Columbia  (Hntoewitp 

mttjeCttpoflldtigork 

THE  LIBRARIES 


^ITA/H  <yi  fU      <y/Z6r-zrcty 


11 Z 


7<h 


Copyright  by 

CRANSTON  &  STOWE, 

1890, 


PREFACE 


THIS  book  is  strictly  an  autobiography  so  far 
as  the  writing  and  collecting  of  previously 
printed  matter  is  concerned.  The  name  "  Retro- 
spect" is  Dr.  Moody's  own  selection  for  a  title. 
He  quotes:  "The  retrospect  of  a  life  well  spent 
affords  peace  of  mind  in  old  age." 

I  have  endeavored  to  arrange  the  subjects  and 
events  in  chronological  order,  but  found  some  dif- 
ficulty, and  possibly  did  not  in  every  case  suc- 
ceed. Many  of  the  newspaper  clippings  were  with- 
out date.  Dr.  Moody,  like  Paul,  was  in  the  habit 
of  "going  off  at  a  word;"  that  is,  the  association 
of  ideas  suggested  something  kindred  to  the  sub- 
ject in  hand,  and  he  turned  aside  from  the  direct 
narrative  to  notice  that,  and,  in  some  instances, 
the  two  circumstances  were  far  apart  in  point  of 
time.  I  have  grouped  together  facts  and  incidents 
of  a  similar  nature,  arranging  them  chronolog- 
ically, as  nearly  as  the  data  enabled  me  so  to  do. 
The  reports  from  charges,  dreams,  advocacy  of 
reforms,  and  prayers,  illustrate  this  grouping  of 
kindred  events.  In  the  material  furnished  by  Dr. 
Moody  there  were  a  number  of  sermons  and  ad- 
dresses, lectures  and  essays,  which  it  was  impos- 
sible to  embody  in  the  limits  of  a  single  volume. 
Enough,  however,  has  been  furnished  to  allow  the 

3 


4  Preface. 

autobiographer  to  reveal  his  distinct  personality, 
and  to  demonstrate  his  interest  in  every  religions, 
moral,  philanthropic,  educational,  and  patriotic 
subject  before  the  people  in  the  half  century  of 
his  active  life ;  and  also  to  show  his  mode  of 
thought,  manner  of  treatment,  and  his  rhetorical 
setting  of  his  subjects. 

He  was  verbose,  without  reduncancy.  The 
length  of  his  literary  productions,  whether  written 
or  spoken,  was  owing  to  the  abundance  of  matter, 
and  was  not  a  mere  superfluity  of  words.  He 
was  descended  from  generations  of  scholarly  an- 
cestors, graduates  of  Harvard,  Dartmouth,  and 
other  New  England  colleges.  His  father  grad- 
uated from  Dartmouth  in  1798,  and  became  one 
of  the  best  educators  of  the  period.  Dr.  Moody's 
reading  was  classical,  historical,  solid ;  his  trained 
memory  was  capacious,  ready,  and  retentive.  His 
splendid  physique  gave  him  the  physical  qualifi- 
cations as  to  presence  and  power  of  endurance 
for  an  orator,  while  his  well-modulated  voice  ena- 
bled him  to  pass  from  the  stentorian  tone  of 
command  to  the  depth  of  tender  pathos,  and  the 
play  of  his  expressive  features,  lighting  up  his 
countenance  till  it  was  all  aglow  with  emotion, 
intensified  the  impression,  and  fixed  it  indelibly 
in  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  hearer.  He  was 
six  feet  four  inches  tall,  with  development  in  pro- 
portion that  was  massive,  without  being  adipose.  I 
have  in  my  mind  a  picture  like  this.  I  asked  him 
to  offer  the  closing  prayer  at  an  early  Christmas 
morning  prayer-meeting  in  Ripley,  in  1873.     He 


Preface.  5 

kneeled  on  his  right  knee,  the  left  being  at  a 
right  angle,  his  hands  resting  on  the  top  of  his 
heavy  black  cane  with  massive  silver  head,  his 
body  erect,  with  the  cape  of  his  military  overcoat 
draping  his  shoulders ;  his  head,  covered  with  luxu- 
riant white  hair,  was  a  dome  of  vigorous  thought, 
while  his  speaking  face  was  turned  heavenward. 
The  pose  was  one  for  an  artist.  His  prayer  was 
the  language  of  one  at  ease  with  God,  culmi- 
nating in  thanks  for  "the  unutterable  gift." 

One  familiar  with  the  Miami  Valley  could  trace 
his  itinerary  by  the  doctrines  he  combated — Cal- 
vinism at  Oxford,  Universalism  at  Montgomery 
and  West  Chester,  Socinianism  at  Franklin,  Radi- 
calism at  Lebanon,  and  intemperance,  Catholicism, 
and  disloyalty  in  Dayton,  Springfield,  Cincinnati, 
and  Piqua.  And  yet  some  of  his  dearest  friends 
were  his  antipodes  in  doctrine ;  showing  that  his 
antagonisms  were  not  against  persons,  but  against 
systems  of  belief.  Then,  too,  the  subjects  of  his 
communications  to  the  Church  papers  indicate  the 
depth  of  his  interest  in  the  polity  of  the  Church. 
He  wrote  and  spoke  on  the  division  of  the  Book 
Concern,  episcopacy,  pewed  churches,  the  pre- 
siding eldership,  and  various  phases  of  slavery. 

His  religious  experience  was  deep,  founded  in 
the  Word  of  God  ;  the  one  word  that  impressed 
me  as  I  searched  and  classified  his  memoirs  of 
himself,  was  "  authority."  To  duly  constituted  au- 
thority— divine,  ecclesiastical,  or  civil — he  bowed 
with  unquestioning  loyalty.  His  early  training  in 
a  pious  house   established  him  in   the  principles 


6  Preface. 

of  morality  ;  his  prayerful  and  careful  examination 
in  his  youth  of  the  doctrines  of  religion,  with -the 
Bible  as  the  ultimate  appeal,  settled  him  immov- 
ably in  matters  of  faith ;  his  conversion,  in  which 
he  was  Scripturally,  thoroughly,  and  consciously 
saved,  was  a  genuine  experience,  affirming  his  mo- 
rality, confirming  his  doctrine,  and  eminently 
qualifying  him  to  deliver  his  gospel  message  with 
no  reservations  as  to  its  adaptation  to  save.  His 
was  a  growing  experience.  At  the  close  of  his 
itinerant  ministry  he  wrote  : 

"From  the  memorable  November  25,  1831,  a 
divine  energy  has  been  forming  me,  amid  many 
conflicts  and  various  experiences,  into  a  growing 
conformity  to  God's  perfect  will ;  and,  upon  the 
whole  review,  I  find  that  I  have  been  putting  off 
the  old  man  of  covetousness,  self-will,  pride,  and 
self-indulgence,  and  have  been  putting  on  the  new 
character  of  humility,  submission  to  God,  and 
love  to  God  and  to  men, — to  good  men  because 
of  their  goodness,  and  commiseration,  and  pitying 
love  to  the  naturally  degenerate  portion  of  society, 
who  remain  in  the  bonds  of  iniquity  and  in  the 
gall  of  bitterness,  and  strangers  still  to  the  cov- 
enant of  grace — recognized  as  those  having  no 
hope,  because  without  God  in  the  world. 

"  I  can  also  attest  that  the  bud  of  regeneration, 
the  divine  beginning  of  the  new  life,  has  blos- 
somed and  progressed  and  ripened  into  the  fruit 
unto  holiness,  with  the  assured  prospect  of  ever- 
lasting life.     ... 

"I  can  also  attest  that  a  life  of  devotional,  self- 


Preface.  7 

denying,  and  active  piety  has  become  more  habitual 
and  delightful,  and  sin  in  any  and  every  form,  as 
viewed  in  myself  and  in  others,  has  become  more 
and  more  hateful  and  painful,  deformed  and  hor- 
rible, and  vile  and  detestable  and  detested.  .  .  . 
My  contemplations  of  the  heavenly  state  are  be- 
coming more  realizing ;  my  aspirations  for  it  are 
more  fervent,  and  my  desires  for  earthly  things  are 
more  moderate.  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth 
in  me ;  and  the  life  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  is  a  life 
of  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me  and  gave 
himself  for  me,  and  to  me  as  well.  Thus,  by  faith 
in  Christ,  my  life  has  been  a  progressive  life,  has 
been  a  life  of  religious  decision,  of  care  for  my 
own  personal  salvation,  of  devotional  piety ;  a  life 
of  assurance  of  acceptance  with  God  in  Christ ;  a 
life  of  communion  with  the  Holy  Trinity,  of  up- 
ward and  onward  tendencies,  of  cheerful  submis- 
sion to  providential  allotments,  of  laborious  use- 
fulness in  persuading  men  to  reformation  that  flows 
from  gospel  salvation  ;  a  life  of  patriotic  devotion 
to  our  country  ;  a  life  of  active  opposition  to  in- 
temperance and  Sabbath  desecration ;  and  my 
closing  prayer  for  all  my  family  is,  that  our  sons 
and  daughters  may  walk  by  all  these  rules,  and 
mind  the  same  things,  and  meet  wife  and  self  in 
heaven." 

He  was  a  connecting  link  between  the  pioneer 
and  the  present  ministry  in  Ohio.  He  diligently 
instructed  the  children  in  every  pastoral  charge  ; 
he  observed  and  enjoined  the  quarterly  fast ;  he 
urged    and    insisted   upon    attendance    upon    the 


8  Preface. 

means  of  grace,  of  which  he  considered  class- 
meetings  not  the  least. 

At  the  session  of  his  Conference  in  1886 — I 
quote  from  the  Minutes — "a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  examine  and  report  upon  the  manu- 
script autobiography  of  brother  G.  Mood}',  as 
requested  by  the  Conference,  and  the  following 
brethren  were  so  appointed  :  R.  S.  Rust,  A.  Lowrey, 
C.  H.  Payne,  William  Herr,  S.  D.  Clayton,  A.  B. 
Leonard,  and  J.  F.  Marlay."  Appointed  on  the 
first  day  of  the  session,  they  reported  on  the  fifth 
day  as  follows : 

"The  Committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the 
manuscript  autobiography  of  our  venerable  and 
beloved  brother,  Rev.  Granville  Moody,  D.  D., 
would  respectfully  report : 

"1.  We  greatly  rejoice  in  the  presence  of  Dr. 
Moody  with  us  at  this  session  of  our  conference, 
and  that  we  have  been  permitted  to  hear  once 
more  on  the  floor  of  the  Conference,  and  in  the 
devotional  exercises  of  the  session,  the  familiar 
tones  of  a  voice  which  we  have  been  so  long  ac- 
customed to  follow  as  that  of  a  born,  tried,  and 
trusted  leader.  As  a  man  evidently  called  of  God 
to  take  a  leading  part  in  public  and  ecclesiastical 
affairs,  and  richly  endowed  by  high  qualities  of 
physical,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  manhood,  Dr. 
Moody  has  been  a  conspicuous  and  honored  figure 
in  the  most  eventful  period  of  our  country's  his- 
tory ;  a  man  distinguished  above  his  fellows  for 
labors  abundant  in  Church  and  State,  whose 
praise  is  not  only  in  all  the  Churches,  but  which 


Preface. 


9 


also  occupies  a  large  place  in  the  history  of  the 
great  Rebellion,  in  which  he  bore  so  noble  a  part 
in  defense  of  the  Union. 

u2.  We  rejoice  that  in  his  enforced  retirement 
from  active  service,  on  account  of  impaired  phys- 
ical health,  Dr.  Moody  has  found  time  to  collect 
the  facts  and  incidents  of  his  long  and  useful  life 
in  the  form  of  an  autobiography,  which  we  have 
examined  as  fully  as  our  time  would  allow,  and 
which  we  take  great  pleasure  in  recommending  for 
publication  by  the  Western  Book  Concern,  as  a 
contribution  of  rare  interest  and  value  to  our 
denominational  and  biographical  literature." 

This  report  was  signed  by  all  the  committee, 
and  was  adopted  by  the  Cincinnati  Conference  by 
a  rising  vote. 

On  Sunday  morning,  May  29,  1887,  Dr.  Moody, 
in  company  with  his  son,  Charles  P.  Moody,  was 
going  from  his  country  residence  to  Jefferson, 
Iowa,  to  preach  a  memorial  sermon  before  the 
George  H.  Thomas  Post,  No.  23,  G.  A.  R.  In 
turning  a  corner  a  trace  became  detached  ;  this 
allowed  the  breast-yoke  to  move  forward,  so  that, 
the  carriage-pole  falling,  both  occupants  of  the 
carriage  were  hurled  violently  out.  On  the  third 
day  pneumonia  of  a  type  defying  medical  skill 
developed,  and  the  end  drew  near.  His  life-long 
familiarity  with  the  Scriptures  was  manifested 
during  his  closing  days  of  life  in  his  frequent 
repetitions  of  the  "  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises,"  which  were  as  manna  to  his  soul.  He 
looked  forward   to   the  goodly  company  awaiting 


io  Preface. 

him — bishops,  ministers,  and  from  the  laity.  He 
alluded  to  the  more  than  eight  thousand  who, 
through  his  ministry,  had  been  led  to  God ;  many 
of  them  would  meet  him.  "Best  of  all  who  have 
been  with  me  on  earth,  Lizzie  will  meet  me 
there."  A  little  later  he  uttered  his  last  connected 
sentence,  repeatedly  exclaiming:  "On  the  tree! 
on  the  tree  I"  At  five  minutes  before  six  o'clock, 
on  Saturday,  June  4,  1887,  his  spirit  departed, 
passing  out  of  the  Saturday  night  of  earth  into 
the  unending  Sabbath  of  a  blessed  eternity.  The 
funeral  services  in  the  church  at  Mount  Vernon 
were  participated  by  Revs.  Dr.  Heald,  pastor ; 
Luke  Fish,  A.  K.  Baird  ;  President  W.  F.  King,  of 
Cornell  College  ;  C.  M.  Sessions,  I.  W.  Joyce,  D.  D. 
(now  bishop),  Chaplain  J.  H.  Lozier,  and  Captain 
C.  W.  Kepler,  of  the  G.  A.  R.  Post. 

Awaiting  the  resurrection  of  the  just,  his  mor- 
tal remains  rest  in  the  soil  of  the  State  he  chose 
for  the  home  of  his  declining  days,  while  his  ran- 
somed spirit  sings  with  deeper  fervor  than  earth 
could  know,  his  favorite : 

"  Thou  art  my  soul's  bright  morning  star, 
And  thou  my  rising  sun." 

We  trust  this  Autobiography  may  be  full  of 
pleasant  reminiscences  to  the  older  readers,  and  an 
inspiration  and  guide  to  the  younger. 

SYLVESTER  WEEKS. 

Cincinnati,  September  3,  1889. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I. 

INFANCY  AND  CHILDHOOD. 

Birth  —  Brothers  and  Sisters  —  Grandfather's  House  —  Hard 
Cider — Father's  Literary  Pursuits — Mother  of  Huguenot 
Ancestry  —  "  Boston  Stone  "  —  Maternal  Grandmother  — 
"  Uncle  Ben  " — Baron  Mood}-  and  the  Grant  Family — Sketch 
of  Family, Page  21 

Chapter  II. 

BOYISH    YEARS. 

Childhood — Mother's  Prayers — Memory  at  Four  Years  of 
Age — Dr.  Payson — Removal  to  Baltimore — Gay  Street — Dr. 
Inglis's  Church — Family  Sittings — William  Wirt  —  Com- 
munion Days — Catechization  at  Home — Father's  Seminary — 
Reminiscences  in  1876 — The  Author's  Education — First 
Cigar  and   Last, 30 

Chapter  III. 

YOUTH. 
At  Business — A  Large  Transaction  for  a  Sixteen-year  Old  Boy — 
Details  thereof— First  Adult  Suit  of  Clothes— Farmer— 
Josiah  Chew  —  Prevalence  of  Intemperance — Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher's  Six  Sermons — Rev.  Henry  Slicer — The  Author's 
Unique  Pledge — Step  to  Conversion, 40 

Chapter  IV. 

WESTWARD  HO! 

A  Surgical  Operation — Religious  Conviction — Leaving  Home 
for    Ohio — Aunt    Violet — Norwich,    Ohio — Isaiah    Brown — 
Meets  Rev.  Levi  P.  Miller — Protracted  Discussion  on  Theol- 
ogy— Fletcher's  Checks — Turning  from  Calvinism,     .    .    50 
11 


12  Contents. 

Chapter  V. 

CONVERSION. 

Deepened  Conviction  by  New  Truth— "O  Wretched  Man" — 
Aunt  Violet's  Charge  comes  up — Conversion — Witness  of 
the  Spirit — Evidence  of  Adoption — Uniting  with  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church, Page  65 

Chapter  VI. 

LICENSED  TO  PREACH. 

Joins  the  Church  on  Christmas — Will  not  sell  Whisky — List 
of  Books  and  Time  for  Reading — Life  of  Jesse  Lee — Call 
to  preach — Keeping  a  Branch  Country  Store — Classifying 
Knowledge  for  a  Ready  Memory — First  Sermon — Licensed 
to  Preach  and  recommended  for  the  Traveling  Connec- 
tion— Cure  for  a  Balky  Horse, 78 

Chapter  VII. 

ADMITTED  INTO  CONFERENCE. 

Characteristic  Letters  from  Father  and  Mother — Studies  under 
Rev.  E.  D.  Roe,  M.  D. — Transfer  of  Business  to  Brother 
William — Appointed  to  Springfield  Circuit — First  Text  as 
an  Itinerant — William  H.  Raper — Father's  Death — Lon- 
don Circuit — McKendree  Chapel,  Fulton — Joseph  Herron — 
Marriage — Wife's  Great  Blessing — William  Nast — Wesley 
Chapel — General  Conference  of  1836  and  Slavery,    ...    89 

Chapter  VIII. 

CINCINNATI  AND  EESEWHERE. 

Wesley  Chapel,  Cincinnati — Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  NefF— Illi- 
nois Lands — Refusal  to  invest — Troy  Circuit— Black  Hawk, 
a  Horse  and  His  History — Oxford — A  Dangerous  Ford  of 
the  Miami  River — Vanaken  Wunder  and  Son,  ......    97 

Chapter  IX. 

UNIVERSAEISM. 

Miami  Circuit — Days  of  Theological  Debates — Two  Hours  on 
Baptism  in  the  Morning — Three  Messengers  give  Timely 
Warning — Three  Hours  in  the  Afternoon  against  Univer- 
salism — The  Result — Extempore  Speaking, 108 


Contents.  13 

Chapter  X. 

AT  OXFORD. 

Oxford  Station — Calvinism — Controversy  at  the  Post-office — 
Quotations  from  Confession  of  Faith — The  Controversy- 
Older  than  Calvin— Synod  of  Dort— Servetus— Catechism  and 
Directory  of  Worship — Free  and  Full  Salvation,  .  Page  115 

Chapter  XI. 

INCIDENTS  IN  ITINERANT  LIFE. 
Wesley  Chapel — Job  Dundee — His  Occupation  led  Him  to 
Christ — Dr.  Strickland — A  Strange  Story  in  Psychology — 
Ripley— Pastoral  Visiting— A  Roadside  Baptism— A  Mud- 
hole  near  Williamsburg— A  Friendly  Act  to  be  repaid 
by  Another — The  Answer  thereto, 134 

Chapter  XII. 

SABBATH-KEEPING. 

On  Observance  of  the  Sabbath  —  Little  Ben  —  Firing  Up 
with  Split  Wood  and  Prayer — A  Long  Session  of  Confer- 
ence—Low Water  and  Ohio  River  Bars — Sunday  Morn- 
ing— A  Bishop  vacillating — Going  Ashore — Mr.  Ladely's 
Welcome — Monday  Morning  Departure  —  Little  Ben  on  a 
Bar  and  distanced — A  Sunburnt  Bishop— The  Sabbath 
Observers  reach  Cincinnati  first, 149 

Chapter  XIII. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  EARLY  WRITINGS. 

Putting  on  Christ — Negations — Fundamental  Doctrines — The 
Truth— Bereavements— The  Word  made  Flesh— The  Bible- 
Experimental  Knowledge, 157 

Chapter  XIV. 

REPORTS  FROM  VARIOUS  CHARGES. 
Fulton — Montgomery— Lancaster — Zanesville — Dedication  of 
McKendree,  Fulton— Methodism  in  Columbus— Old-time 
Hospitality  at  the  Parsonage— Columbia  Street,  Spring- 
field—Raper  Chapel,  Dayton— Appointments  from  1833  to 
1882— Record  of  Births,  Deaths,  and  Marriages  of  Chil- 
dren,     168 


14  Contents. 

Chapter  XV. 

DRRAMS,  PRESCIENCE,  AND  THE  PRETERNATURAL. 

Dreams:  in  Springfield  in  Reference  to  a  Revival — At  York 
Street,  Cincinnati,  as  to  a  Death  One  Hundred  and  Thirty 
Miles  Distant— An  Ante-mortem  Funeral  Sermon  Actually 
used  at  the  Funeral— Singular  Impression  at  Camp  Chase, 
Anticipating  the  Escape  of  Rebel  Prisoners — At  Fairmount, 
in  Charity, PAGE  183 

Chapter  XVI. 

FURTHER  INCIDENTS  OF  MINISTERIAL  LIFE. 

Duplicating  a  Wedding— Cowhiding  a  Minister — The  Fighting 

Parson    and    John    Morgan's     Chief    of    Staff — Muscular 

Christianity  at  Camp  Chase — Falling  of  the  Flag  at  Camp 

Chase — A  Modern  Gideon's  Lamps — Students  Enlisting,  200 

Chapter  XVII. 

VIEWS  ON  SLAVERY. 
Contrabands  at  Camp  Chase— Ye  can  not  serve  Two  Masters — 
Testimonials  as  to  Author's  Treatment  of  Prisoners  by 
Rodgers,  Steele,  and  Others— Articles  in  the  Western 
Christian  Advocate  on  the  Repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise        ....    219 

Chapter  XVIII. 

TEMPERANCE— EXTRACTS  FROM  PAPERS. 

Temperance  in  Springfield — Dayton — Communication  to  the 
Dayton  Gazette— Reasons  for  Opposition  to  the  Sale  and 
Use  of  Intoxicating  Liquors, 231 

Chapter  XIX. 

INCIDENTS  OF  ARMY  LIFE. 

A  Soldier  wounded  at  Franklin,  Tennessee — Praying  with  and 
for  Him — His  Recovery — Talk  with  Archbishop  Purcell — 
Andrew  Johnson,  Military  Governor  of  Tennessee — Evacua- 
tion of  Nashville  threatened — Prayer  with  the  Governor  by 
Author — Stone  River — Battle — Murfreesboro — Rebel  Officer 
shot — His  Death — Prayers  on  Memorial-day  at  Spring  Grove 
Cemetery,  Cincinnati,  and  at  Arlington  Heights,  .    .    .    258 


Contents.  15 

Chapter  XX. 

ADVOCACY  OF  REFORM  AND  LIBERTY. 

Kossuth  Meeting  in  Springfield — Anti-Nebraska  Meeting  in 
Dayton — Against  Romanism  in  Springfield,  1852-53 — The 
Bible  in  the  Schools — Roman  Catholic  Opposition,  Page  281 

Chapter  XXI. 

COMBATING   ERROR. 

Spirit-rapping — Reasons  for  not  being  a  Baptist — On  the  Use 
of  Tobacco — Deference  to  Morals  in  Political  Action — 
Camp-meetings  and  the  Sabbath, 295 

Chapter  XXII. 

FRAGMENTS  OF  CEERICAE  EIFE. 
Corner-stone  Laying  at  Ripley — Great  Storm  averted — Prevail- 
ing Prayer — A  Cincinnati  Affray — Missionary  Box  mistaken 
for  an  Infernal  Machine — A  Successful  Change  in  Minis- 
terial Relations — Isaac  W.  Joyce — Prayer  over  a  "  Sermon- 
ette" — Judge  Bellamy  Storer 322 

Chapter  XXIII. 

AS  COEONEE  OF  A  REGIMENT. 
Enters  the  Army — Commissioned  Colonel  of  the  Seventy- 
fourth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I. — Approval  of  Cincinnati  Preach- 
ers' Meeting — Appointed  Commandant  at  Camp  Chase — 
Letter  of  Governor  Tod— Sent  to  the  Front — Author's  Letter 
to  his  Wife — Details  of  Camp-life  and  Battle — Letter  to 
the  Book  Agents — Deserters  turned  Back — Narrow  Escape 
from  Wounds  and  Death — Major  Lewis,  Private  Secretary 
of  President  Jackson — Incidents — Seeking  escaped  Slaves — 
Toilsome  March — Son's  Exhaustion — Franklin,  Tennessee — 
Brother  G.  V.  Moody,  of  the  Rebel  Army,  a  Prisoner — 
Preaches  in  Camp — Disabled  by  Exposure  and  Wounds — 
Resigns  from  the  Service — Promoted  to  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral by    Brevet, 336 

Chrpter  XXIV. 

IN  CIVIE  EIFE. 
Meeting  of  Citizens  of  Springfield  on  Washington's  Birthday, 
1863 — Address  on  the  Occasion — Address  at  Ripley  on  the 


16  Contents. 

Situation  of  Public  Affairs,  1868 — Address  on  Memorial-day, 
1881,  at  Washington  C.  H. — Address  at  Xenia,  Ohio,  at  a 
Reunion  of  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment,  ....  Page  369 

Chapter  XXV. 

MORE  FRAGMENTS  OF  CLERICAL  EIFE. 
Pocket  picked,  and  Conviction  of  Thief — Pardon  procured — 
First  Personal  Acquaintance  with  Dr.  J.  V.  Watson — Ap- 
pointment to  Piqua — Rebuilding  Church — Thanksgiving- 
day,  1863 — Patriotic  News — Services  interrupted — Address 
on  the  Occasion — General  Conference  of  1864 — Interview 
with  President  Lincoln — Address  of  the  Conference  and  the 
President's  Reply — The  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  con- 
ferred on  the  Author — Visit  to  Washington  City — President 
Lincoln  on  Emancipation — Appointed  to  Ripley — General 
Conference  of  1876 — Speech  on  Bishop's  Address,    .    .    427 

Chapter  XXVI. 

SUPERANNUATION. 

Appointed  to  Jamestown  —  Semi-centennial  Anniversary  of 
Entering  the  Ministry — A  Daughter's  Letter — How  an  Itin- 
erant's Life  appears  to  an  Itinerant's  Child — Asks  for  and 
receives  a  Superannuated  Relation  to  the  Conference — Ad- 
dress before  Conference — Motion  for  Author  to  prepare 
his  Autobiography — Semi-centennial  Sermon — Retirement 
in  Iowa — Reflections — Assurance  of  Divine  Favor — Let- 
ters of  Sympathy  and  Regard — Golden  Wedding — Sickness 
and  Death  of  Wife — Conclusion, 455 


INTRODUCTION. 


AN  Introduction  to  any  book  written  by  Rev.  Gran- 
ville Mood}-  would  seem  a  superfluous  task,  and 
it  would  be  such  were  the  work  designed  only  for 
the  Methodists  of  Ohio,  and  especially  for  those  now 
well  advanced  in  life.  The  same  is  true  of  the  work 
which  sets  forth  his  personal  experiences,  labors,  and 
observations.  He  was  too  well  known  to  need  intro- 
duction, and  the  Methodist  people  who  knew  him 
require  no  inducement  to  read  what  he  has  written 
concerning  himself,  or  with  reference  to  the  times  in 
which  he  lived. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  one  so  conspicuous  and 
impressive  in  his  personality  is  gone  from  our  midst, 
and  that  only  a  volume  remains  to  perpetuate  his 
memory,  and  in  some  degree  to  continue  his  influence 
in  the  Church  he  served  so  long  and  so  well.  For 
half  a  century  and  more  he  was  a  prominent  partici- 
pant in  the  affairs  of  Methodism,  working  with  all 
the  energies  of  his  enthusiastic  nature  for  the  up- 
building of  the  kingdom  of  righteousness,  and  no  one 
who  knew  him  will  even  suspect  that  he  lacked  a 
single  element  of  loyalty  to  God,  to  his  Church,  or  to 
his  native  land.  What  he  believed,  he  believed,  with 
all  his  heart,  and  what  he  did,  he  did  with  his  might. 

He  entered   the  ministry  at  a  time  when   it  was 

2  17 


1 8  Introduction. 

necessary  for  Methodists  to  "contend  for  the  faith" 
they  professed,  and  to  do  it  with  an  aggressiveness 
that  would,  at  the  present  day,  seem  intolerant  and 
offensive.  Mr.  Moody  was  not  a  man  to  be  a  spectator 
in  the  presence  of  an  emergency  demanding  positive 
exertion  to  maintain  what  he  believed  to  be  the  truth 
of  God.  Hence,  in  early  life,  he  prepared  himself 
thoroughly  to  defend  the  doctrines  of  his  Church  ;  and 
his  preaching,  without  lacking  elements  of  spiritual 
power,  was  rich  in  theological  thought  and  forceful 
in  polemic  learning.  He  championed  the  cause  he 
espoused,  and  stood  ready  to  measure  swords  with  any 
who  crossed  his  path  in  the  advocacy  of  Calvinism, 
Unitariamsm,  or  Universalism.  It  was  not  merely 
the  impulsiveness  of  his  nature  that  made  Mr.  Moody 
active  and  prominent  in  the  controversies  of  his  day. 
He  possessed  an  intellect  of  wonderful  activity  and 
force,  an  industry  which  was  untiring,  a  heart  that 
burned  with  zeal  for  the  truth  and  the  right ;  and,  pos- 
sibly, no  one  excelled  him  in  pure  dislike  to  all  that 
seemed  dishonoring  to  God  or  the  Church.  It  was  not 
in  him  to  remain  uninformed  in  the  current  thought  of 
his  time,  or  to  lack  any  knowledge  available  for  the 
defense  of  the  positions  his  conscience  approved. 

It  sometimes  occurs  that  men  of  marked  peculiari- 
ties, or  of  extraordinary  strength  in  given  lines  of 
action,  come  to  be  so  well  known  in  those  things 
which  distinguish  them  from  others,  that  their  general 
ability  to  do  the  ordinary  work  of  their  calling  is 
scarcely  appreciated.  Mr.  Moody  was  a  man  of 
striking  peculiarities,  yet  he   was  also   well  rounded 


Introduction.  19 

and  thoroughly  capable,  and  eminently  efficient  in 
every  department  of  duty  as  a  Christian  minister 
and  pastor.  While  he  became  proficient  as  a  speaker 
and  writer  in  the  controversies  which  belonged  to  his 
times,  he  developed  large  capacity  for  all  the  services 
required  at  his  hands,  and  neither  the  social  nor  spir- 
itual interests  of  his  charges  suffered  from  neglect  or 
inattention.  He  sought  to  understand  Methodism  in 
her  inner  life  as  well  as  in  her  doctrinal  principles  ; 
and  his  allegiance  to  her  ecclesiastical  methods  was  far 
from  being  a  blind  devotion  to  unappreciated  tradi- 
tions. With  a  generous  love  for  all  evangelical  de- 
nominations, and  with  a  catholicity  unknown  to  smaller 
minds,  he  grasped  the  connectional  system  of  Meth- 
odism, made  himself  familiar  with  its  forms  and  usages, 
and  gave  to  these  an  intelligent  approval  which  car- 
ried with  it  the  warmth  of  his  great  soul.  He  was, 
therefore,  an  ardent  Methodist,  while  he  despised 
bigotry. 

The  following  chapters  will  give  a  better  idea  of 
the  characteristics  hinted  at  in  the  foregoing  periods, 
than  could  be  given  by  further  descriptive  phrases  in 
the  brief  space  allowed  for  this  Introduction.  He  was 
a  man  of  great  mind,  great  heart,  great  impulses,  and 
great  intelligence ;  and  whatever  may  be  said  of  his 
peculiarities,  it  is  not  probable  that  any  one  will  ever 
think  of  him  as  other  than  a  man  of  high  purpose, 
lofty  aim,  noble  sentiment,  pure  thought,  and  honor- 
able life.  The  record  he  has  made,  and  the  portraiture 
here  given,  will  be  read  and  cherished  by  thousands 
who  admired  him  in  life,  and  who  will  associate  him 


20  Introduction. 

in  memory  with  the  heroes  of  Methodism,  as  well  as 
with  the  heroes  of  the  Nation. 

The  literature  of  the  country  and  of  the  Church  is 
enriched  by  such  a  volume  as  this.  Its  perusal  by 
the  young  will  enlarge  the  horizon  of  their  thought, 
and  stimulate  their  desire  to  be  loyal  to  God  and  to 
every  good  work.  It  presents  the  thoughts  and  expe- 
riences of  one  whose  life  was  a  success,  and  whose  ex- 
ample in  study  and  zeal  and  work  and  sacrifice,  as 
well  as  in  devotion  and  patriotism,  may  be  imitated 

with  profit. 

S.  M.  MERRII.lv. 
Chicago,  1890. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

OF 

Granville  Moody 


CHAPTER  I. 

INFANCY  AND  CHILDHOOD. 

AN  autobiography  is  the  life  of  a  person  written 
by  himself.  It  is  a  delicate  and  difficult  task 
to  write  one's  own  history.  It  lays  one  open  to 
the  charge  of  egotism  or  self-glorification.  It 
were  better  far  if  "  every  Johnson  had  his  Bos- 
well."  But,  then,  every  Boswell  might  be  too 
friendly  to  his  Johnson,  and,  knowing  his  subject 
but  in  part,  and  disposed  to  lionize  his  friend,  he 
might  be  suspected  of  partiality. 

The  subject  of  this  autobiography  was  born  in 
Portland,  Me.,  on  January  2,  1812.  His  parents 
were  William  and  Harriet  Brooks  Moody.  A  family 
legend  is  that  his  birth  was  accompanied  with  the 
most  violent  storm  that  had  broken  on  that  ocean- 
girt  land  within  the  memory  of  the  oldest  inhab- 
itant. Whether  "  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the 
air"  had  any  agency  in  this  tempest  at  this  epoch 
is  not  for  me  to  determine.  But  as  this  juncture 
marked  also  the  beginning  of  the  War  of  18 12,  I 
came,  and  amid  a  rejoicing  circle  waked  "  ma- 
ternal love,  the  word  that  sums  all  bliss."     Family 


22  Granville  Moody. 

history  speaks  lovingly  of  my  infancy,  and  of  my 
baptism  when  six  weeks  old — presented  at  God's 
holy  altar  in  the  old  frame  church  where  the  Rev. 
Edward  Payson,  D.  D.,  faithfully  preached  the 
gospel  of  the  Son  of  God  to  crowded  audiences, 
and  solemnly  administered  the  ordinances  of  bap- 
tism and  the  Lord's  Supper.  There  stood  my 
parents,  and  presented  me  to  God,  taking  upon 
themselves  the  parental  obligations  to  "bring  me 
up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord." 
And  doubly  sure  I  am  that  never  into  holier  hands 
was  infant  form  committed  than  when,  from  my 
mother's  bosom,  my  father's  hands  conveyed  me  to 
the  fond  arms  of  him  who  stood  in  Jesus'  place 
and  name  and  welcomed  me  to  his  kind  and  warm 
embrace.  Giving  me  back  to  my  parents'  arms 
and  hearts,  he  said:  "This  child  is  now  the  Lord's 
by  your  act  of  consecration ;  take  it  as  his  prop- 
erty, and  bring  it  up  for  God  and,  'he  will  give  you 
your  wages.' "  He  closed  the  service  with  a  prayer 
for  parents  and  the  child  then  baptized,  and  for 
the  children  all,  that  they  might  make  an  unbroken 
family  in  heaven.  This  is  the  authentic  record 
of  that  great  hour  in  my  early  life  when  Pastor 
Payson  prayed  for  me  and  for  the  family  in  his 
saintly  style,  with  fullness  of  faith  that  God  would 
be  my  parents'  God  and  the  God  of  their  children 
after  them. 

My  parents  were  of  good  New  England  stock, 
pure  Christians,  believing  in  the  Bible  as  a  book 
divinely  inspired,  containing  the  mind  and  will  of 
God  in  our  salvation  from  sin  and  from  its  results, 


Infancy  and  Childhood.  23 

revealing  Jesus  Christ  as  the  great  object  of  faith 
and  hope  and  love.  To  them  were  born  seven 
sons  and  four  daughters,  to  wit :  Harriet  Peaslee, 
John  Brooks,  William  Henry,  Louisa  Brooks,  Gran- 
ville, Ellen,  George  V.,  Nathaniel  Peaslee,  Edward 
Payson,  Samuel  Stillman,  and  Sarah  Hudson.  My 
father  was  the  sixth  son  of  Humphrey  Moody, 
whose  farm  adjoined  Haverhill  on  the  Merrimac, 
eighteen  miles  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and 
twenty-seven  miles  north  of  Boston.  Six  of  my 
father's  brothers  served  as  volunteers  in  the  Rev- 
olutionary War.  My  grandfather's  house  was 
burned  by  the  British  in  1776,  and  the  family 
scattered.  After  peace  was  declared,  the  sons 
gathered  at  the  old  homestead  to  rebuild.  In 
clearing  away  the  rubbish,  some  one  with  his  mat- 
tock knocked  off  the  neck  of  a  cider-bottle,  and 
lifting  it  out  of  its  sandy  bed,  imbibed  the  ancient 
beverage,  and  gave  notice  of  his  luck.  His  fellow- 
laborers  found  that  the  whole  cellar  floor  was  oc- 
cupied by  such  bottles,  the  interstices  and  six 
inches  over  the  tops  of  the  corks  being  covered 
with  sand.  The  debris  of  the  dwelling  falling 
into  the  cellar  had  formed  a  seven  years'  covering. 
It  is  also  part  of  the  story  that  within  an  hour 
there  could  not  be  found  a  sober  man  on  the 
premises.  The  treasure  was  all  exhumed  and 
distributed  in  quantities  of  a  dozen  or  half-dozen 
bottles  to  the  veteran  officers  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  Governor  John  Hancock  sharing  in  the  re- 
sults of  the  discovery. 

In  1632,  twelve  years  after  the  Pilgrims  landed, 


24  Granville  Moody. 

my  great-great-grandfather,  William  Moody,  wife, 
and  three  sons,  named  Caleb,  Joshua,  and  Samuel, 
immigrated  into  Plymouth  Colony  from  Scotland. 
Humphrey  Moody,  my  grandfather,  was  a  large 
land-holder  in  East  Haverhill,  and  was  much  re- 
spected as  one  of  its  best  citizens.  He  married 
Abigail,  daughter  of  General  Nathaniel  Peaslee, 
of  Haverhill,  who  gave  each  of  his  children  a 
valuable  farm.  His  word  was  law  and  gospel  in 
State  and  Church.  Born  and  raised  a  Quaker,  his 
house  was  their  home.  He  lived  to  be  ninety 
years  old.  He  was  known  as  a  "Commoner,"  as 
he  held  large  bodies  of  land  by  public  authority. 
He  represented  his  district  in  the  Legislature. 
He  was  a  consistent  and  devout  Christian,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Congregational  Church  for  over  sixty 
years.  His  daughter  was  remarkable  for  her  pre- 
eminent mental  powers,  her  extensive  education, 
and  her  great  range  of  reading.  Having  read  the 
public  library  of  Haverhill  thoroughly,  she  then 
undertook  the  same  of  the  library  of  Boston.  She 
was  regarded  as  the  encyclopedia  of  her  day. 
She  was  a  woman  of  great  firmness  of  mind  and 
decision  of  character,  and  withal  a  real  statesman, 
her  society  being  sought  and  her  opinion  highly 
regarded  by  persons  of  the  greatest  distinction  in 
State  affairs.  She  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty-two 
years  in  almost  uninterrupted  health  and  vigor, 
erect  and  active  as  when  in  youth.  After  living 
in  widowhood  for  twenty-five  years  she  married 
General  James  Brickett,  M.  D.  He  was  eminently 
useful  in  the  Revolutionary  army  as  a  physician, 


Infancy  and  Childhood.  25 

and  commanded  a  regiment  at  the  battle  of  Bun- 
ker Hill. 

My  father  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College 
with  all  its  honors.  After  graduation,  he  was  em- 
ployed as  principal  of  the  seminary  in  Portland, 
Me.  He  was  very  successful  as  a  teacher  of  navi- 
gation, being  especially  expert  in  lunar  calcula- 
tions. In  1805  he  engaged  in  the  fur-trade;  but 
great  depreciation  in  prices  made  his  venture  a 
failure,  and  he  returned  to  the  principalship  of  the 
seminary,  in  which  he  continued  till  1816,  when 
he  removed  to  Baltimore,  Md.,  having  been  elected 
president  of  the  first  female  seminary  in  that  place. 

My  mother's  maiden  name  was  Harriet  Brooks, 
daughter  of  Captain  John  Brooks,  a  native  of  South 
Carolina,  holding  the  office  of  captain  in  the  Con- 
tinental army  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 
He  was  ordered  to  the  military  station  in  Salem, 
Mass.,  where  he  made  his  home  after  peace  was 
declared.  His  ancestors  came  to  South  Carolina 
with  other  Huguenots.  My  mother  was  one  of 
three  children.  She  was  born  June  1,  1787,  in 
Boston,  at  the  "  Boston  Stone  "  residence  in  the  then 
"  South  End."  This  stone  was  a  landmark  in  the 
original  survey  of  town-lots.  It  was  imported 
from  England  as  a  paint-mill.  It  was  a  large, 
square  stone,  having  an  excavated  center  about 
two  feet  in  diameter,  into  which  a  ball  of  stone, 
of  slightly  smaller  diameter,  was  placed.  A  mor- 
tise six  by  six  inches  received  an  upright  post,  and 
a  sweep-pole  was  fitted  to  the  top  of  this.  A 
horse,  moving  around  in  a  circle,  turned  the  stone, 

3 


26  Granville  Moody. 

which  was  used  for  grinding  paints  in  oil.  While 
I  was  attending  the  General  Conference  in  Boston 
as  a  delegate  of  the  Cincinnati  Conference  I  ap- 
propriated an  afternoon  in  hunting  up  this  relic. 
I  found  it  built  into  the  rear  wall  of  a  warehouse 
on  an  oblique  street,  within  one  square  of  the 
celebrated  Cockerill  church.  The  stone  ball  was 
so  built  into  the  wall  as  to  expose  a  projecting 
disk,  oblong  in  shape  and  standing  six  inches  out 
from  the  surface  of  the  wall.  On  this  disk  an 
eagle  with  outspread  wings  is  depicted  in  gold- 
leaf.  My  mother  resided  in  the  house  then  on 
this  spot  till  her  marriage,  March  28,  1803. 

My  maternal  grandmother  was  Sarah  Hathorn. 
She  was  born  after  the  death  of  her  father,  and 
was  brought  up  by  her  grandfather,  Mr.  Eustis, 
of  Salem,  an  eminently  pious  man,  a  member  of 
the  Congregational  Church.  He  fasted  at  regular 
intervals,  abstaining  from  even  a  cup  of  water 
and  the  use  of  his  pipe  from  sundown  to  sun- 
down. He  died  at  the  age  of  ninety  years,  very 
happy,  saying:   "All  is  peace  and  joy  and   hope." 

My  uncle  Benjamin  Moody  was  very  tall,  be- 
ing six  feet  four  and  one-half  inches  high;  and 
withal  remarkably  muscular  and  active.  He  re- 
tained his  faculties  when  ninety  years  old.  When 
eighty-five  he  walked  thirty-five  miles  in  a  day. 
In  the  Revolutionary  War>  in  a  repulse  of  his  com- 
pany, he  stood  his  ground,  and  went  for  the  red- 
coats with  his  clenched  fists,  knocking  down  fif- 
teen men  before  he  yielded.  A  platoon  charged 
on  him  with  fixed  bayonets;  but  a  British  officer 


Infancy  and  Childhood.  27 

spurred  in  between  the  charging  platoon  and 
Uncle  Ben,  and  shouted:  "Halt!  Halt!  So  true  a 
man  shall  not  be  killed."  For  fifty  years  after, 
when  a  man  showed  great  valor,  it  was  said:  "He 
fights  like  Ben  Moody."  He  died  at  Landaff, 
N.  H.,  in  1850,  aged  ninety-six  years. 

In  my  father's  valuable  papers  I  find  an  item 
of  family  antiquity.  It  is  a  transcript  from  the 
Court  of  Heraldry  in  London.  It  purports  to  be 
"  The  Coat  of  Arms  of  Baron  Moody."  It  is  a  war- 
rior, armed  with  a  shield  portraying  the  Holy 
Cross,  showing  that  he  had  been  a  Crusader.  On 
his  head  is  a  helmet, with  the  visor  down;  on  the 
summit  of  the  helmet  is  a  badger,  couchant;  be- 
neath this  a  festooned  roll  of  honor  or  scarf  of 
valor.  Baron  Moody  was  one  of  England's  sturdy 
men  who  combined  to  extort  Magna  Charta  from 
King  John  in  12 15.  The  badger  denotes  persist- 
ency. Natural  history  asserts  that  he  can  not  be 
conquered;  he  may  be  killed,  but  never  cowed. 

This  reminds  me  of  an  incident  which  oc- 
curred in  May,  1873.  *  happened  to  meet  Jesse 
Grant,  the  venerable  father  of  General  Ulysses  S. 
Grant.  After  salutations,  the  aged  man  said  to 
me:  "Do  you  know  that  you  and  my  son  Ulysses 
are  blood  relations?"  I  replied  that  I  was  aware 
that  our  families  were  related,  but  did  not  know 
how  the  kinship  came  about.  He  added:  "Well, 
my  father,  Noah  Grant,  married  Margaret  Moody, 
of  New  Hampshire,  and  I  am  one  of  that  family 
of  children.  I  named  one  of  my  daughters  Mar- 
garet   Moody,  to   keep  the   maiden   name   of  my 


28  Granville  Moody. 

mother  in  the  family.  Ulysses  gets  his  persistence 
from  his  grandmother.  I  never  knew  two  persons 
more  alike  than  this  grandmother  and  grandson. 
Whatever  he  undertook  to  do,  he  did  with  all  his 
might;  he  always  held  on  with  great  determina- 
tion till  it  was  finished.  I  have  often  thought 
that  I  would  tell  you  about  this  relationship  when 
I  should  meet  you."  I  thanked  him  for  the  in- 
formation, and  told  him  of  the  " badger"  and 
its  heraldic  significance  of  persistency. 

In  a  book  published  in  Boston  in  1847  ^v 
Charles  C.  P.  Moody, entitled  "Biographical  Sketch 
of  the  Moody  Family,"  a  succinct  account  of  eight- 
een families  named  Moody  is  given,  of  whom  ten 
were  clergymen.  An  interview  which  I  had  with 
Daniel  Webster  shows  the  estimate  he  placed 
upon  the  family.  Being  on  my  way  to  Boston  in 
1852  to  attend  the  General  Conference,  having 
some  pending  business  in  Washington,  I  called 
on  Ohio's  favorite  son,  Hon.  Thomas  Corwin,  then 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  suggested  that  we 
call  on  the  peerless  Webster,  Secretary  of  State. 
Away  we  sped,  and  on  entering  the  office,  there 
sat  the  grand  man  at  his  desk,  a  grand  presence, — 
sallow  countenance;  magnificent  mouth ;  broad  and 
massive  and  finely  chiseled  chin ;  more  than  hu- 
man eyes,  at  great  width  from  each  other,  and 
deeply  set  and  of  lustrous  beaming ;  an  ample  and 
full  bearing  chest,  agile  limbs,  and  courtly  feet. 
All  combined  to  make  and  mark  a  manly  form, 
befitting  tabernacle  of  the  mighty  spiritual  force 
which  inhabited  that  magnificent  presence.     His 


Infancy  and  Childhood.  29 

dress  was  in  rigid  taste, — a  mazarine-blue  coat 
with  gold  buttons,  a  buff  vest,  pantaloons  of  snowy 
whiteness,  white  silk  stockings,  and  well-fitting 
shoes.  I  felt  that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  a  great 
man,  may  be  the  greatest  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Corwin  advancing,  said:  "Good  morning, 
Mr.  vSecretary!  Allow  me  the  pleasure  of  intro- 
ducing my  special  friend  and  former  pastor,  Rev. 
Granville  Moody,  of  Springfield,  Ohio."  Mr.  Web- 
ster rose  to  his  feet,  erect,  firm,  self-poised,  and 
with  extended  hand  and  benignant  smile,  re- 
sponded: "I  am  pleased,  sir,  to  make  your  ac- 
quaintance; but  tell  me  whence  you  derive  that 
old  New  England  name.  That  name  does  not  be- 
long to  Ohio."  "No,  sir,"  I  replied,  "I  am  from 
New  England,  name  and  all.  I  was  born  in  Port- 
land, Me.,  though  my  mother  was  a  Boston  lady." 
"Then,  sir,"  he  said,  "I  claim  you  as  one  of  our 
Old  Bay  State  men ;  and  let  me  congratulate  you 
on  bearing  one  of  New  England's  most  ancient 
and  honored  names — a  name  without  which  New 
England's  history,  in  Church  and  State,  can  not 
be  written." 


3° 


Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BOYISH  YEARS. 

MY  memory  dates  back  to  about  the  first  two 
years  of  my  age.  I  can  distinctly  recollect 
my  mother  in  her  large  easy-chair,  seated  with 
her  children  arranged  in  a  semicircle  for  cate- 
chisation  on  the  afternoon  of  Sabbath.  As  she 
closed  with  devout  and  weeping  prayer,  I  would 
look  up  with  wondering  sympathy  and  listen  to 
her  melting  prayer,  and  cry  myself  because  my 
mother  cried  in  prayer.  Later  a  year,  or  when 
I  was  three  and  a  half  years  old,  I  distinctly  re- 
member this  petition:  "O,  may  I  never  raise  a 
babe  or  rear  a  child  that  shall  be  lost,  but  may 
we  make  a  family  in  heaven !"  That  form  of 
words  holds  precedence  in  my  memory. 

When  four  years  of  age  I  remember  my  father 
addressing  me  whilst  I  was  worrying  myself  trun- 
dling the  family  wheelbarrow,  saying:  "Well, 
Granville,  how  would  you  like  to  go  with  me  out 
on  the  wide  ocean,  and  go  by  ship  to  Baltimore?" 
My  heart  leaped  for  joy  as  the  new  idea  pos- 
sessed my  mind,  and  I  said:  "O  pa,  let  us  go;  it 
will  be  so  nice !"  I  remember  how  my  father 
stood  and  looked  as  we  held  this  colloquy.  I 
remember  the  busy  preparation  and  the  family 
talks  and  prayers  connected  with  this  enterprise. 


Boyish  Years.  31 

How  clearly  does  Dr.  Payson  stand  out  before  my 
retrospective  view!  In  his  frequent  pastoral  visits 
he  had  always  some  cheering  word  suited  to  my 
tender  years ;  and  his  visits  were  received  by  my 
parents  with  devout  gladness  and  gratitude,  and 
seemly  reverence  for  the  reverend  man,  as  though 
his  business  were  somehow  divine.  My  parents' 
regard  for  this  holy  man  of  God,  with  seeming 
deference  to  his  will,  diffused  a  veneration  which 
environed  and  enthroned  him  in  our  estimation. 
He  was  familiarly  known  and  styled  as  "Payson, 
the  pastor."  My  father  and  mother  would  often 
remind  me  and  say :  "  My  dear  child,  that  is  the 
holy  man  by  whom  you  were  baptized  when  we 
gave  you  to  be  the  Lord's." 

My  memory  is  filled  with  the  preparations  for 
our  removal — the  packing  of  furniture  and  boxes 
and  bales  of  carpeting.  The  day  we  left,  Dr.  Payson 
was  present,  and  engaged  in  prayer  for  the  family, 
with  that  particular  unction  which  made  each  one 
feel  that  he  was  committed  to  the  gracious  care 
of  the  great  Father,  "without  whom  not  a  spar- 
row falleth  on  the  ground."  At  about  one  o'clock 
we  left  the  house  together,  Dr.  Payson  with  us, 
conducting  me  by  the  hand  down  to  the  wharf  of 
the  finest  ocean  harbor  on  the  whole  Atlantic 
coast.  We  went  on  board  the  Brutus,  a  large  and 
well-built  brig,  fit  to  battle  with  warring  winds 
and  surging  waves.  This  was  in  the  early  spring 
of  1816.  We  had  another  season  of  brief  prayer 
in  the  cabin  of  the  brig ;  then  all  went  up  the 
companion-way  but  myself. 


32  Granville  Moody. 

While  the  passengers  were  waving  their 
" adieus"  with  white  handkerchiefs  to  the  friends 
they  left  behind,  the  brig  cast  off  her  hawsers  and 
swung  out  on  Casco  Bay,  beautiful  with  its  nu- 
merous islands — some  say  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  in  all.  I  found  a  door  open  into  the  bread- 
room,  and,  climbing  up  to  a  small,  open  win- 
dow, was  amused  with  the  rushing  waves  made 
by  the  brig,  which  was  now  under  strong  headway, 
east  by  south,  under  a  stiff  breeze.  The  hissing, 
boiling  waves,  with  thousands  of  little  water- 
flowers  gleaming  in  the  billowy  current,  amused 
me  with  the  entire  novelty  for  awhile ;  then  look- 
ing around,  I  espied  a  barrel  of  ship-bread,  each 
biscuit  about  the  size  of  a  large  dinner-plate,  and 
about  the  same  thickness.  These  I  commenced 
throwing  out  of  the  little  window,  one  after 
another,  till  I  could  see  a  straight  line  of  them  a 
mile  long,  rising  and  falling  on  the  intervening 
waves,  to  my  great  wonder  and  delight.  Mean- 
while all  on  deck  were  surprised  at  this  appear- 
ance on  the  ocean  wave,  probably  concluding  that 
the  brig' was  pursued  by  circular  fishes,  unknown 
before.  While  all  were  in  wonderment,  the  mate 
leaned  over  the  stern  of  the  vessel  to  ascertain 
more  accurately  the  nature  of  the  phenomenon, 
when  his  eye  saw  that  they  were  ship-biscuit  thrown 
out  of  the  bread-room  by  some  agency.  He  ran 
down  the  companion-way  and  came  upon  me  with 
fury  beaming  in  his  eyes  and  countenance.  He 
seized  me  with  his  brawny  hands  and  uttered 
a  most  profane   oath,  the  first  I  had   ever  heard, 


Boyish  Years.  33 

and  said :  "  You  little  rascal,  if  I  catch  you  at  this 
again,  I  '11  pitch  you  right  out  of  that  window." 
Locking  the  door,  he  rushed  up-stairs  and  reported 
progress,  leaving  me  to  my  reflections.  The  hor- 
rible profanity  of  the  mate  made  me  shudder  with 
affright,  and  left  such  an  alarming  impression 
upon  my  mind  as  was  profitable  to  me  during  all 
my  after  life. 

After  a  stormy  trip,  we  gladly  entered  Chesa- 
peake Bay,  and  beat  our  way  two  hundred  miles 
amid  scenes  of  beauty  on  either  shore  till  we  were 
safely  landed  at  our  journey's  end.  Our  house 
was  on  Gay  Street,  corner  of  Orange  Alley.  Here, 
too,  we  found  the  holy  Sabbath-day.  Dr.  Inglis's 
church,  on  the  corner  of  Lexington  and  Broad- 
way, had  two  steeples,  galleries  around  three  sides, 
and  in  the  end  opposite  the  pulpit  was  a  massive 
pipe-organ.  The  back  of  the  pulpit  was  hung 
with  heavy  maroon  drapery  in  dark  folds,  for 
twenty-five  or  thirty  feet.  The  pulpit  was  reached 
by  two  long  flights  of  stairs.  Our  pew  was  No. 
61,  immediately  in  the  rear  of  the  one  occupied 
by  William  Wirt,  the  great  lawyer  of  Baltimore. 
Mother  sat  next  the  wall,  then  sister  Harriet, 
then  brothers  Brooks  and  William,  sister  Louisa, 
myself — my  father  next  the  aisle.  Worship  was 
very  exact  and  formal, 

"  While  through  the  long-drawn  aisle  and  fretted  vault 
The  pealing  anthem  swelled  the  notes  of  praise." 

I  can  furnish  but  a  slight  description  of  Dr. 
Inglis.     His  sermons   were   far  above,  out  of  the 


34  Granville  Moody. 

range  of  my  thought,  but  his  general  bearing  was 
impressive,  his  appearance  dignified,  his  manner- 
ism clerical ;  and  yet  I  have  no  clear  recollections 
of  him  or  of*  his  services.  Once  a  quarter  the 
long  communion-tables,  about  fifteen  inches  wide, 
and  covered  with  snow-white  linen,  wrere  ex- 
tended in  the  wide  aisles,  and  across  in  front  of 
the  pulpit,  and  the  Lord's  Supper  was  observed. 
Mother  sat  on  that  Sabbath  next  to  father,  so 
as  to  be  able  to  accompany  him  to  the  table 
easily.  These  services  were  very  solemn  and 
affecting  to  my  mind.  The  nature  of  the  holy 
communion  was  explained  to  us  in  our  regular 
catechisation  at  home  by  father  and  mother  on 
Sabbath  afternoons. 

My  father's  school  was  the  first  female  semi- 
nary ever  established  in  Baltimore.  He  presided 
over  it  for  sixteen  years.  It  was  his  lot  to  fur- 
nish the  means  of  education  to  the  first  families 
in  this  growing  city.  He  was  very  methodical, 
giving  the  weekly  reports  of  presence,  conduct, 
and  lessons  in  a  neatly  printed  book,  furnished  by 
hiin,  signed  "William  Moody,"  and  to  be  coun- 
tersigned by  the  parents.  It  was  issued  every 
Friday  afternoon,  to  be  returned  every  Monday 
morning.  The  school  was  opened  every  morning 
with  Bible-reading  and  extempore  prayer.  .  Every 
Monday  morning  each  scholar  was  required  to 
state  whom  she  had  heard  preach,  the  text  used, 
and  the  impressions  left  by  the  services.  This 
wras  followed  by  appropriate  exhortation.  My  sis- 
ter Harriet  taught  French,  Algebra,  and  Belles- 


Boyish  Years.  35 

lettres.  The  tuition  was  twelve  dollars  and  fifty 
cents  and  fifteen  dollars  a  quarter. 

My  father  was  a  large  and  comely  man,  per- 
fectly healthy,  of  a  social  and  lively  turn  of  mind  and 
manners,  scholarly  and  sedate,  apt  to  teach,  and 
with  the  art  of  good  government.  Much  was  said 
of  his  Friday  afternoon  exercises,  in  which  the 
entire  week's  work  was  briefly  reviewed,  and  a 
parting  admonition  in  an  address  from  five  to 
seven  minutes  long  was  given.  At  the  dismissal, 
father,  standing  at  the  door,  gave  each  student  her 
book,  to  be  returned  on  Monday. 

During  my  attendance  as  delegate  from  the 
Cincinnati  Conference  to  the  General  Conference, 
held  in  Baltimore  in  1876,  numerous  ladies,  who 
had  received  their  education  from  my  father,  sought 
my  acquaintance.  They  accosted  me  joyously, 
and  I  was  greeted  with  remarks  like  these :  "  Why, 
Granville,  is  this  you?  I  went  to  seminary  to 
your  father.  What  a  great,  noble  man  he  was! 
How  like  my  own  father  he  seemed  to  me !  I  am 
so  much  indebted  to  your  father,  and  so  glad  to 
meet  you.  But  few  of  the  clergy  of  this  city  ex- 
erted a  wider  influence  than  your  honored  father, 
and  an  influence  is  still  spreading  in  this  com- 
munity through  heads  of  families,  who  from  him 
learned  the  value  of  true  religion.  He  regarded 
it  as  of  paramount  and  permanent  importance. 
Surely  he  was  a  public  blessing  to  the  highest 
good  of  this  city  during  the  years  that  he  was  our 
preceptor."  My  own  education  was  obtained 
partly  from  my  father.     I  spent  a  year  in    "The 


36  Granville  Moody. 

Lancasterian  School."  I  attended  a  school  for 
boys  taught  by  Mr.  Johnson.  I  was  for  a  time  a 
pupil  in  the  Classical  School  of  Rev.  Dr.  Gibson, 
pastor  of  a  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church  of  uthe 
most  straitest  sect."  He  believed  and  taught  that 
the  Psalms  of  the  Bible  alone  should  be  used  in 
social  and  public  worship  ;  though  surely  neither 
Sternhold's  nor  Rouse's  version  could  claim  in- 
spiration in  its  ill-joined  couplets.  I  studied  Latin 
under  Dr.  Gibson ;  his  Scotch  dialect  gave  dead 
Latin  a  queer  living  utterance. 

I  attended  Sabbath-school  in  our  church  regu- 
larly, and  had  the  good  fortune  to  belong  to  a  class 
taught  by  Mr.  John  Chambers.  His  sole  object 
seemed  to  be  to  produce  such  a  change  of  mind 
in  us  as  would  lead  us  to  choose  Christ  as  our 
Savior  as  he  is  presented  in  the  Bible,  having  the 
wisdom  of  a  prophet,  the  sanctity  of  a  priest, 
offering  himself  as  a  sacrifice  for  our  sins,  and  the 
authority  of  a  king  to  rule  all  within  us  to  his 
glory  and  our  good.  Single-minded  man!  How 
much  am  I  indebted  to  him  for  his  assiduous  toil 
in  my  behalf!  He  became  a  distinguished  clergy- 
man, located  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  name  of 
John  Chambers  became  a  tower  of  strength. 

My  school-boy  days  were  very  interesting  times. 
In  autumn  I  spent  my  Saturdays  in  the  country, 
nutting,  roaming  through  fruit-laden  orchards, 
drinking  cider  as  it  gushed  from  the  press,  hunting 
rabbits  and  squirrels,  playing  in  the  vicinity  of 
Fort  McHenry.  In  winter  I  coasted  down  the  high 
hill  where  the  court-house  stood,  debouching  into 


Boyish  Years.  37 

Monument  Square,  in  the  center  of  which  stood 
the  monument  in  memory  of  the  heroic  dead  who 
fell  in  the  battle  of  North  Point.  Their  names 
environ,  diagonally,  the  shaft.  In  summer  we 
boys  would  run  from  school,  on  its  dismission  at 
four  P.  M.,  to  the  rafts  in  the  Patapsco  River,  and 
by  scores  and  hundreds  would  bathe,  diving  from 
rafts  and  from  spring-boards  into  water  from 
twelve  to  eighteen  feet  deep,  going  to  the  bottom, 
and  bringing  up  a  handful  of  gravel  as  proof  that 
we  had  reached  the  bottom.  At  five  o'clock  the 
large  steamboat  would  cast  off  from  Bowley's 
wharf.  By  the  time  it  reached  us,  the  boat  would 
be  under  full  headway,  with  the  waves  running 
high  on  the  larboard  and  starboard  sides.  We 
boys,  in  rows  just  outside  the  steamer's  run,  would 
swim  into  the  billowy  flood  abaft  the  ponderous, 
thundering  wheels,  be  caught  to  the  summit  of 
the  tossing  waves,  and  whirled  into  their  depths, 
and  thus  luxuriously  would  ride  to  the  wonder 
and  delight  of  the  passengers. 

One  day  my  mother  sent  me  to  Bowley's  wharf 
to  my  oldest  brother  John,  requesting  him  to  buy 
and  send  home  by  me  six  chickens.  While  he  was 
out  after  the  chickens,  I  walked  about  the  whole- 
sale commission-house  in  which  he  was  book- 
keeper. Twenty  or  more  dealers  in  cigars,  col- 
lected by  an  advertisement  of  the  arrival  of  a 
large  invoice  of  cigars  direct  from  Cuba,  were  ex- 
amining the  lot,  and  all  were  smoking.  I  asked 
the  proprietor  if  I  might  have  a  cigar.  He 
promptly  and  smilingly  said,  "Yes,"    and  handed 


38  Granville  Moody. 

me  five.  I  lighted  one,  and  commenced  puffing 
away.  My  brother  returned,  and  started  me  home 
with  three  chickens  in  each  hand.  As  I  went 
smoking  along,  the  cigar  did  its  work,  and  I  was 
intoxicated  as  with  rum ;  my  brain  reeled,  the  pave- 
ment came  up  into  my  face,  my  legs  twisted,  I 
staggered  to  and  fro,  and  at  last  fell  to  the 
left  upon  three  chickens,  which  screeched  and 
cackled,  while  the  people  laughed,  and  I  got 
up  and  staggered  on.  I  fell  to  the  right  on 
the  other  three  chickens,  which  in  their  turn 
screeched  and  cackled.  Thus  annoyed,  I  wor- 
ried along,  smoking  incessantly,  till  I  reached 
home;  when,  giving  the  terrified  fowls  to  our 
colored  woman,  I  crept  between  the  rose-bushes  and 
the  fence,  and  vomited  most  immoderately.  The 
colored  woman  reported  me  to  mother,  who  came 
out  and  said:  "  Granville !  come  out  of  there  imme- 
diately." She  and  the  woman  took  me  up-stairs, 
and  laid  me  on  the  bed,  and  mother  questioned  me 
very  closely.  "Where  have  you  been?  What 
have  you  eaten?  Have  you  drunk  any  liquor?" 
To  all  of  which  I  said,  "  No,  ma  'am."  "  Have  you 
fallen  down  ?  How  did  you  muddy  your  clothes  so  ? 
Has  anybody  hit  you ?"  "No,  ma'am."  "Well, 
what  is  the  cause  of  all  this  sickness?"  I  re- 
plied: "Mr.  Read  gave  me  some  Cuba  cigars,  and 
I  smoked  one,  and  it  made  me  sick!"  This  solu- 
tion of  my  difficulty  relieved  my  mother's  mind, 
and  she  went  to  the  medicine-chest  and  returned 
with  a  table-spoonful  of  ground  mustard  and  a 
tea-spoonful  of  salt  dissolved  in  warm  water.     This 


Boyish  Years.  39 

administered,  my  nausea  was  temporarily  increased, 
but  ultimately  removed. 

I  was  so  effectually  cured  of  the  use  of  tobacco 
by  this  illness  and  mortification  that  the  cure 
lasted  a  life-time.  I  recollect  a  tobacconist's  sign 
in  Baltimore: 

"We  all  agree  the  weed  to  use; 
One  smokes,  one  snuffs,  another  chews." 

But  since  that  homeward  reeling  I  have  never 
smoked,  nor  snuffed,  nor  chewed  the  nerve-destroy- 
ing weed. 


4<d  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  III. 

YOUTH. 

AFTER  my  school-boy  days,  my  parents  put  me 
into  the  employ  of  Howard  &  Jackson,  com- 
mission merchants,  225  Main  Street,  Baltimore. 
I  was  the  youngest  clerk  in  the  house.  The  busi- 
ness was  in  dry-goods  and  wool.  The  firm  were 
agents  of  numerous  cotton  and  woolen  mills  of 
New  England.  A  large  wholesale  trade  was  car- 
ried on  with  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia, 
Ohio,  and  Tennessee,  by  means  of  six-horse 
wagons.  I  served  in  the  store  and  counting-room — 
copied  all  business  letters  into  the  letter-book ;  at- 
tended to  all  post-office  business;  carried  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  dollars  to  and  from  three  banks; 
received  and  aided  in  packing  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  pounds  of  assorted  wools,  under  the  di- 
rection of  Mr.  Whitmarsh,  an  old  Englishman, 
who  could  close  his  eyes,  grasp  a  fleece  of  wool, 
and  tell  you  its  strain. 

One  morning  by  six  o'clock  I  had  opened  the 
store  and  swept  it.  While  sweeping  the  pave- 
ment I  was  accosted  by  Mr.  Thomas  Tenant,  a 
merchant,  who  kept  six  ships  and  brigs  afloat,  and 
with  whom  I  was  acquainted  through  collecting 
my  father's  seminary  bills  for  the  tuition  of  his 
daughter.  "  Granville,"  said  he,  "  when  will  Shaw, 
Tiffany  &  Co.  open  for  business?'*     Their  house 


Youth.  41 

was  directly  opposite  ours ;  their  business  was  large 
and  well-established.  "I  am  disappointed,"  he 
said,  "in  getting  flour  of  a  desired  brand,  and  I 
want  to  get  three-quarter  shirtings  and  one  and  one- 
quarter  and  one-yard  muslins  to  finish  the  lading 
of  one  of  my  ships  for  a  South  American  port,  to 
sail  at  twelve  o'clock  noon  to-day.  I  wish  they 
were  open."  I  replied:  "O,  they  have  made  their 
pile,  and  won't  be  open  before  nine  o'clock.  You 
had  better  deal  with  this  house.  We  are  com- 
mission agents  of  many  New  England  factories. 
Just  step  in,  Mr.  Tenant,  and  look  at  our  stock; 
please  do."  He  came  in,  and  I  turned  and  locked 
the  front  door,  saying:  "Our  baled  goods  are  in 
the  rear  warehouse.     This  way,  please." 

I  showed  him  hundreds  of  bales  of  just  such 
goods  as  he  had  called  for,  piled  up  to  the  ceiling 
in  lengthened  rows.  He  was  delighted,  and  the 
more  so  as  I  opened  a  bale  of  each  kind  for  him 
to  examine.  "Granville,"  he  said,  "your  firm  is 
absent  just  as  Shaw,  Tiffany  &  Co.  are."  "What 
of  that?"  said  I.  "I  can  sell  you  these  goods  as 
cheap  as  they  could  or  would  if  they  were  pres- 
ent." "O  no."  "Yes,"  I  replied,  "  I  can.  You 
see  they  do  not  own  a  bale  themselves;  they  are 
commission  merchants;  they  get  so  much  per 
cent  for  selling,  and  are  limited  as  to  price.  The 
owners  write,  '  Get  so  much  for  three-quarter  goods 
or  hold,'  and  so  of  all  the  rest.  I  am  invoice  clerk, 
and  I  will  show  you  the  invoices  and  the  limita- 
tions, and  will  sell  you  all  you  need  on  manu- 
facturers'   limits;    and    that,   sir,   is    all   the    firm 

4 


42  Granville  Moody. 

could  do  were  they  here.  If  they  sell  for  less, 
they  must  make  good  the  difference."  "L,et  me 
see  your  invoices,"  he  said.  We  went  into  the 
counting-room,  and  he  found  as  I  had  said.  "  Now," 
said  he,  "if  I  take  all  you  have,  for  cash,  will 
you  agree  to  deliver  them  at  my  wharf  at  Fell's 
Point,  three  miles  from  here,  by  half-past  eleven 
o'clock  A.  M.,withoutfail?"  uYes,sir."  "Agreed," 
said  Mr.  Tenant;  "you  deliver  them,  get  my  cap- 
tain's receipt  for  them  as  in  good  order  and  well- 
conditioned  for  shipping,  bring  the  bill  and  receipt 
to  my  office  in  the  custom-house,  and  I  will  pay 
you  the  cash." 

I  hired  four  colored  men,  and  had  them  pile 
the  goods  four  and  five  bales  high  along  the 
front  doors.  I  hired  drays  in  numbers  sufficient 
to  transport  them,  and  had  the  bales  checked  off 
as  loaded.  The  book-keeper  and  the  partners  in 
succession  came  to  the  store  and  questioned  as  to 
the  meaning  of  that  array  of  goods  on  the  side- 
walk. They  were  pleased  with  the  transaction.  I 
told  them  that  if  they  did  not  get  around  sooner, 
I  would  sell  them  clean  out  some  day.  At  the 
wharf  I  suggested  to  the  captain  that,  as  the 
goods  had  been  classified  and  loaded  accordingly, 
he  could  examine  them  on  the  drays  before  bulk 
was  broken.  He  accepted  the  suggestion,  and 
asked  me  on  board  to  get  my  clearance.  I  car- 
ried the  papers  to  Mr.  Tenant,  and  received  his 
check  on  the  United  States  Bank  for  $14,730.  This 
operation  took  place  when  I  was  sixteen  years  old. 
About    a    fortnight    thereafter,  Mr.   Jackson,    the 


Youth. 


43 


junior  member  of  the  firm,  said  to  me:  "Gran- 
ville, what  color  would  you  prefer  for  a  suit  of 
clothes?  We  intend  it  as  a  present  for  that  clever 
transaction  of  yours."  I  left  the  question  of  color 
to  his  judgment.  He  selected  blue,  and  gave  me 
an  order  to  a  first-class  tailor  for  the  making. 
The  next  Sabbath  I  wore  my  suit,  the  first  long- 
tailed  coat  I  had  ever  worn,  till  then  having  worn 
only  roundabouts. 

About  this  time  my  father,  who  was  still  plod- 
ding along  as  Preceptor  Moody,  educating  and 
supporting  his  family  of  seven  sons  and  four 
daughters,  sold  the  interest  which  my  mother  still 
held  in  the  Boston  Stone  house,  and  invested  the 
proceeds  in  a  farm,  which  was  located  four  miles 
from  Baltimore,  and  adjoining  the  village  of  Hooks- 
town.  This  country-seat  my  father  called  "  Hav- 
erhill Park,"  in  memory  of  his  native  place.  The 
farm  was  well  equipped.  The  house  was  ap- 
proached by  a  carriage-way  lined  with  cedar  and 
cherry  trees,  planted  alternately.  The  fencing 
was  cedar  posts  and  chestnut  rails,  which  material, 
a  man  said,  "would  last  forever,  for  his  grand- 
father tried  it  twice."  There  were  seventy  pear- 
trees  on  the  place.  Many  of  them  the  former 
owner,  a  Frenchman,  had  imported  from  France. 
Shortly  after  the  purchase,  I  left  the  commission- 
house  and  began  farm-life.  My  father  went  daily 
to  the  seminary,  leaving  the  farm  to  me  and  Jo- 
siah  Chew,  a  slave  belonging  to  Mrs.  Chew.  My 
father  hired  him  at  fifteen  dollars  a  month,  and 
Josiah   at  the   end   of  each   month    claimed    his 


44  Granville  Moody. 

wages,  and  taking  one  of  the  horses,  Saturday 
afternoon,  carried  his  silver  to  his  mistress,  and  re- 
turned Monday  morning  with  her  receipt.  He 
was  an  extraordinary  man,  about  forty  years  old, 
and  well  skilled  in  practical  farming;  and,  as  I 
knew  nothing  about  it,  I  deferred  to  his  superior 
knowledge,  and  he  taught  me.  I  have  often  felt 
duly  thankful  that  God  in  his  providence  gave  me 
my  education  in  farming  under  Josiah  Chew.  I 
am  indebted  to  him  for  much  wise  counsel  and 
many  sage  utterances.  He  was  honorable  and 
temperate,  with  habits  of  patient  industry,  enter- 
prise, and  reliability.  His  Christian  character  and 
example  were  profitable  to  me.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Intemperance,  if  not  universal,  was  the  general 
habit  in  those  days.  Hard  cider  was  legal  tender. 
Monongahela  whisky  was  the  one  thing  needful. 
Jamaica  rum,  Holland  gin,  and  Port,  Madeira,  and 
Malaga  wines  were  common  as  household  words. 
Ale  and  beer  were  used  freely.  My  father  bought 
whisky  for  his  hands  by  the  barrel,  and  each  hand 
had  his  pint-flask,  with  a  spread-eagle  on  one  side 
and  the  star-spangled  banner  on  the  other.  I  as 
regularly  filled  up  three  such  flasks  out  of  our  store- 
room as  the  morning  came,  and  put  them  out  on 
the  window-sill.  I  also  filled  my  own  flask  with 
cherry-bounce,  sweetened  with  sugar.  The  drink- 
ing customs  of  society  were  terrible.  The  abnor- 
mal appetite  became  imperative,  and  the  nation 
was  given  up  to  this  social  pot-vice.  Cause  will 
have  its  effects,  and  the  usual  effects  were  almost 


Youth.  45 

omnipresent.  It  was  so  in  my  own  case,  and, 
though  my  father  was  an  abstemious  man,  and 
I  never  saw  him  affected  with  liquor,  yet  he  took 
three  small  wine-glasses  a  day  from  his  liquor- 
case,  which  sat  on  the  center  of  the  sideboard. 
He  carried  its  key  on  his  bunch  of  keys,  and 
when  visitors  were  in  the  house  he  would  invite 
them  to  the  sideboard  for  the  social  glass.  But 
I  was  not  thus  abstemious;  and  when  Josiah 
would  perceive  that  I  had  imbibed  too  freely  he 
would  propose  extra  exertion,  and  so  sweat  it  out 
of  me  before  the  dinner  or  supper  hour  would  call 
me  into  the  presence  of  my  parents  and  my  band 
of  sisters. 

About  this  time  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  preached 
and  published  his  "  six  sermons"  on  Intemper- 
ance, which  sounded  an  alarm  in  God's  holy 
mountain,  and  attention  was  called  to  the  alarm- 
ing fact  that  we  were  indeed  a  nation  of  drunk- 
ards. The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  through 
her  ubiquitous  ministry,  sounded  the  alarm.  Word 
was  spread  through  our  neighborhood  that  Rev. 
Henry  Slicer  would  preach  against  dram-drinking 
in  the  Methodist  church  in  Hookstown,  next  Sab- 
bath, at  half-past  two  P.  M.  I  resolved  to  hear 
him.  I  had  made  many  objections  to  going  into 
Baltimore  to  church  for  many  months  before  this 
epoch ;  but  this  Sabbath  I  directed  Clem  to  saddle 
"Rock,"  and  have  him  at  the  persimmon-tree  in 
the  back  yard  at  two  o'clock.  I  wended  my  way 
to  the  "Stone  Church."  A  crowd  was  in  attend- 
ance.    I  got  a  sitting  two  seats  from  the  door,  and 


46  Granville  Moody. 

waited  developments.  A  young  man  arose  in  the 
pulpit,  dressed  in  the  Methodist  garb  of  the  period. 
He  was  a  splendid  specimen  of  a  man — about  five 
feet  ten  or  eleven  inches  high,  about  one  hundred 
and  ninety  pounds  weight,  fine,  florid  complexion, 
flaxen  hair,  his  body  round  and  well  shaped  as 
could  be,  with  ample  breast.  He  was  straight  and 
erect  as  an  Indian  chief.  He  had  gentlemanly 
manners,  amenity  of  address,  and  a  fairly  mod- 
ulated voice.  He  announced  as  his  text:  "And  as 
he  reasoned  of  righteousness,  temperance,  and 
judgment  to  come,  Felix  trembled,  and  answered, 
Go  thy  way  for  this  time;  when  I  have  a  con- 
venient season  I  will  call  for  thee."  (Acts  xxiv,  25.) 
After  appropriate  unfolding  of  the  text,  he  said: 
"Temperance  was  one-third  of  Paul's  preaching 
before  Felix;  but  had  he  lived  in  our  times  he 
would  have  made  it  the  warp  and  woof  of  his 
discourse."  He  then  showed  up  the  drinking 
habits  of  the  then  present  times,  the  statistics 
of  the  subject,  the  shameless  practices  which  pre- 
vailed, the  dire  results,  the  desolations  of  heart 
and  hope  and  home ;  the  ruinous  effects  to  the 
body,  the  mind,  and  the  estate ;  the  ruin  rum  had 
wrought  in  all  classes,  in  Church,  and  in  the 
world;  the  abuse  of  the  social  feeling,  the  desola- 
tions in  married  life ;  the  degraded  husband,  the 
disappointed  wife,  the  hapless  and  to-be-pitied 
children;  the  utterances  of  the  Bible  on  this  sin 
of  sins,  and  the  thousands  in  haggard  plight  and 
form  that  make  the  procession  which  is  filled  up 
at  this  end  as  rapidly   as  the   advancing  column 


Youth.  47 

passes  into  perdition,  while  God  says:  "No  drunk- 
ard hath  any  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of  God." 
I  became  isolated  from  the  crowd,  engrossed 
with  the  potency  of  the  subject,  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  every  word  he  said ;  and  when  he  painted 
the  progressiveness  of  the  vice  and  its  association 
with  other  vices,  his  words  had  confirmation  in 
my  own  experience.  As  he  went  forward  and 
pointed  out  the  outcome,  I  was  convinced  that  it 
would  be  also  true  to  the  culmination  of  its  hor- 
rible sequences.  When  he  said  these  could  all  be 
obviated  by  the  understanding  and  use  of  one 
word  of  seven  letters — namely,  "Abstain;  who 
will  say,  '  I  pledge  myself  totally  to  abstain  ?'  who 
will  say,  'I  will?'" — my  quivering  soul  said,  "I 
will!"  Not  waiting  for  the  conclusion  of  the  ser- 
mon, I  left  the  house  and  chose  the  woods  route 
home,  meditating  on  the  burning  words  I  had  just 
heard.  I  thought  to  a  conclusion,  and  resolved 
to  clinch  my  resolution,  and  called  Clem  into  the 
family-room,  and  told  him  what  I  had  just  heard. 
I  said :  "  Now,  Clem,  I  am  going  to  quit ;  you 
may  do  as  you  please.  I  will  fill  your  flask  if  you 
wish  it;  but,  as  for  myself,  I  have  quit."  Taking 
up  my  father's  Bible  that  lay  on  the  stand,  I  said : 
"Clem,  you  see  this  book,  which  I  believe  to  be 
the  Book  of  God,  and  filled  with  promises  for  the 
obedient  and  curses  for  the  disobedient.  And 
now,  Clem,"  turning  the  leaves  from  Genesis  to 
Revelation,  "bear  me  witness  that  I  here  vow 
to  give  up  all  of  God's  promises,  and  incur  the 
evil  of  God's  curse  upon  me,  if  I  let  one  drop  of 


48  Granville  Moody. 

any  kind  of  intoxicating  liquors  pass  my  lips  for 
three  months ;  and,  then,  if  I  find  that  I  get 
along  as  well  without  liquor  as  with  it,  in  view 
of  the  appetite  it  creates  and  the  habits  it  forms, 
I  pledge  myself  to  abstain  all  the  days  of  my  life. 
So  help  me  God.  Amen."  I  closed  the  Bible 
and  struck  the  book  again,  and  said :  "So  help 
me  God.     Amen !" 

The  negro's  eyes  popped  open  like  dogwood 
blossoms,  and  in  piteous  tones  he  said :  "  My  Lor', 
Massa  Granville,  dat  is  awful !  Never  heard  a 
man  swear  hisself  away  dat  a-way  before.  My 
God!  I  would  not  see  you  take  one  drop  after  that 
ar'  swearing  off,  not  for  all  this  world  !"  As  he 
went  back  to  the  kitchen,  he  kept  on  with  similar 
expressions:  "Massa  Granville  done  gone  now 
forever  if  he  touch  a  single  drop  !  My  Lor',  dat 's 
the  hardest  swearing  I  ever  heard !  No  hope  for 
him  on  that  platform,  sure."  I  listened  to  Clem's 
remarks,  and  they  rolled  in  on  my  soul  to  an  un- 
expected degree,  and  made  me  feel  that  I  had 
passed  "the  Rubicon,"  and  that  naught  remained 
but  liberty  or  "the  perdition  of  ungodly  men." 

I  went  to  the  barn,  on  the  gable  end  of  which 
swung  the  large  gate  that  opened  out  to  the  cen- 
tral road.  I  wheeled  a  double-sided  cart  up  to 
the  barn,  and,  mounting  to  the  top  of  the  side- 
board, with  a  big  nail  I  inscribed  on  the  white- 
washed barn,  in  characters  twenty  inches  long, 
"24th  of  April."  That  was  to  me  the  token  of 
the  covenant  I  had  made  with  God,  and  was  to 
be  the  memorial  of  that  engagement. 


Youth.  49 

O,  what  a  trial  I  endured  for  about  six  weeks ! 
My  total  abstinence  left  me  to  wrestle  with  the 
thirst  for  the  ruinous  draught.  My  remedy  was 
to  go  into  the  milk-house  and  drink  a  pint  of 
sweet  cream  or  morning's  milk  from  three  to  six 
times  a  day.  But  I  conquered  the  intrenched  foe 
by  the  force  of  my  awful  oath.  I  should  have 
relapsed  from  a  mere  promise  a  score  of  times. 
How  much  better  I  felt  as  I  kept  the  pledge  for 
three  months — May,  June,  July  24th,  the  three 
hardest  farming  months;  but  I  got  through,  and 
ratified  the  covenant  for  life ;  yes,  for  my  life  to 
the  end.  Total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating 
drinks  as  a  beverage — a  Rechabite  unto  the  Lord ! 
Amen  and  amen. 

In  making  and  keeping  this  pledge  I  u  built 
better  than  I  knew;"  for,  as  it  was  followed  by  my 
blessed  conversion  and  self-consecration  to  God,  it 
marked  an  epoch  in  my  whole  history  and  life. 

5 


50  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WESTWARD    HO! 

IN  the  summer  of  1829  mY  mother,  putting 
her  hand  on  my  right  shoulder  as  I  sat  on 
the  porch,  discovered  there  a  tumor  about  the 
size  of  an  acorn.  In  the  fall  I  noticed  that  it  was 
enlarging  with  great  rapidity.  We  called  in  a 
physician,  who  pronounced  it  "  osteo-sarcoma;" 
and  Dr.  Smith,  professor  of  surgery  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Maryland,  advised  a  surgical  operation, 
to  which  I  was  very  averse.  Treatment,  internal 
and  local,  failed  to  arrest  its  development,  and  in 
two  months  it  doubled  in  size.  The  doctor  ad- 
vised me  to  call  on  a  gentleman  of  Baltimore 
similarly  affected,  and  be  governed  by  what  he 
said  in  the  case.  He  had  consulted  surgeons  in 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston,  London,  Paris, 
and  Berlin,  all  of  whom  had  advised  the  knife ; 
but  he,  disregarding  their  advice,  was  now  beyond 
that  help.  Failing  to  see  him,  I  consented  to  fol- 
low the  advice  of  his  wife,  who  had,  with  moth- 
erly tenderness  and  delicacy,  examined  my  shoul- 
der and  pronounced  the  trouble  the  same  as  that 
of  her  husband.  In  his  case  surgery  was  hope- 
less, and  he  was  undergoing  sleepless  nights  and 
agonies  inexpressible.  The  surgeon  was  pleased 
with   my   decision,   and  appointed   the   following 


Westward  Ho!  51 

Thursday  as  the  time  for  the  operation.  He 
brought  with  him  several  physicians  and  the  senior 
class  from  the  university.  I  saw  the  preparation  ; 
an  old  carpet  spread  above  the  center  of  the  room, 
a  tub  of  warm  water,  a  roll  of  towels,  lint,  ban- 
dages, and  the  polished  instruments.  There  were 
no  anaesthetics  in  use  at  that  time ;  so  that,  as  I 
was  seated  on  a  chair,  naked  to  my  waist,  a  doc- 
tor knelt  on  each  side  of  me,  with  one  arm  about 
my  waist  and  the  other  holding  one  of  my  arms. 
The  cutting  was  as  if  the  surgeon  was  using  a 
red-hot  instrument,  and  the  sawing  of  the  bone 
was  torture,  indeed.  When  the  wound  was  dressed 
Dr.  Smith  showed  me  what  he  had  removed,  and 
congratulated  me  on  being  a  sound  man.  In  two 
months  I  was  well,  and  I  have  had  no  trouble 
with  that  shoulder  since. 

About  this  time  I  began  to  feel  a  deeper 
interest  in  family  devotions,  which  were  observed 
with  regularity  by  my  father.  His  precision  of 
expression,  devout  manner  and  spirit,  and  his 
spotless  life,  gave  emphasis  to  the  worship,  at 
which  I  was  always  present.  Father's  table  devo- 
tions were  very  impressive  and  instructive,  well 
calculated  to  keep  alive  a  sense  of  God  and  relig- 
ious obligation.  His  bland  and  courteous  man- 
ners, and  all  the  sweet  civilities  of  life,  tended  to 
make  religion  appear  attractive  and  to  be  a 
reasonable  service. 

On  Sabbath  afternoons  he  seemed  to  enjoy  the 
sacred  rest  of  God's  holy  day,  calling  "the  Sab- 
bath  a  delight,"   and  practically  honoring   it  by 


52  Granville  Moody. 

turning  his  feet  away  from  the  paths  of  those  who 
desecrated  the  hours  of  this  day  of  the  Lord. 
I  think  no  one  ever  came  nearer  fulfilling  the 
description  of  acceptable  worshipers,  as  described  in 
Isaiah  lviii,  13,  14,  than  my  honored  parents.  My 
father  had  a  melodious  voice,  and  I  often  hear  echoes 
of  his  Sabbath  afternoon  soliloquies,  uttered  in  in- 
toned and  measured  notes,  the  originals  of  which 
I  can  not  find.  He  was  a  Puritan  of  the  Puritans 
by  constitution  and  by  education,  in  manner  and 
in  habits.  In  1834,  in  autumn's  somber  hours,  he 
passed  away  peacefully  and  expectantly,  responding 
to  mother's  query  when  he  neared  his  mortal  hour: 
uMr.  Moody,  what  are  your  feelings  and  prospects 
now  ?"  uO  Harriet,  it  is  all  well  with  me  now.  I 
have  trusted  Christ;  I  must  trust  Christ;  I  can 
trust  Christ;  and  I  do  trust  Christ;  and  I  know 
whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is 
able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him 
against  that  day.  But  O,  Harriet,  what  will  you 
do?  I  leave  you  and  your  fatherless  children  to 
God.  A  Judge  of  the  widow  and  a  Father  to  the 
fatherless  is  God  in  his  holy  habitation." 

Some  fifty  rods  south-west  from  my  father's 
house,  in  a  very  humble  cabin,  situated  on  a  portion 
of  land  of  fifteen  acres,  belonging  to  Ned  Griffen, 
there  lived  two  superannuated  negro  slaves,  named 
Uncle  Jim  and  Aunt  Violet,  whom  we  all  visited 
in  leisure  hours.  Uncle  Jim  was  a  "  tooth-ache 
doctor,"  a  burly,  cranky  old  man.  He  used 
to  interest  us  children  with  stories  of  slavery 
and  slaveholders,  and   how  he   suffered ;   and   he 


Westward  Ho!  53 

accounted  for  the  loss  of  his  front  teeth,  above  and 
below,  by  saying  that  they  were  knocked  out  by 
his  master's  blows  with  his  heavy  hickory  cane. 
"He  would  have  his  plantation-bell  rung  before 
sunrise,"  thus  he  went  on,  "and  then  come  out  on 
his  porch,  and  clear  his  throat  three  times;  then 
woe  to  the  man  or  woman  who  was  not  up  and 
at  work.  ' Come  here,'  he  would  say;  and  he  fol- 
lowed his  words  with  blows  right  in  your  face  or 
mouth,  and  the  teeth  would  fly  or  go  down  your 
throat.  O,  he  was  a  bad  man!  He  would  work 
his  slaves  on  Sunday.  One  time,  on  turning  the 
mule-teams  out  of  a  wheat-field  which  he  had 
sown  on  Sunday,  he  said,  with  oaths,  that  he  would 
have  the  best  yield  off  that  field  of  any  in  the 
county;  and,  sure  enough,  he  had  the  biggest 
crop  I  ever  saw — thirty-five  bushels  to  the  acre. 
Wasn't  that  strange?"  Jim  was  a  good  farmer. 
He  made  every  edge  cut.  He  would  buy  a  horse 
for  five  to  ten  dollars,  work  him  hard,  feed  him 
nine  ears  of  corn  a  day,  and  when  he  died,  as  he 
soon  did,  Jim  made  his  complaint  to  his  neighbors, 
who  would  make  up  a  similar  sum  for  him,  and 
he  would  reinvest. 

His  wife,  Aunt  Violet,  was  a  jewel.  She  was 
seventy  or  seventy-five  years  old.  She  had  been 
the  body-servant  of  Madame  Hollingsworth,  of 
whom  she  had  no  complaints  to  make,  and  of 
whom  she  was  proud  to  speak  in  the  highest 
terms  of  commendation.  The  mistress  died,  and 
the  younger  members  of  the  family,  who  were 
wild  and  careless,  " quit-claimed"   their  interests 


54  Granville  Moody. 

in  her,  and  she  married  Uncle  Jim,  and  Ned  Grif- 
fen  gave  the  old  couple  those  fifteen  acres  during 
their  life-time.  Aunt  Violet  always  washed  for  my 
mother  on  Monday.  She  was  a  Methodist,  and  at 
her  work  sang  Methodist  hymns  with  a  charming 
voice.  Her  conduct  was  such  that  everybody 
said  she  was  a  Christian.  I  heard  her  say  one 
Monday  morning,  on  looking  at  the  big  basket  of 
clothes:  "Massa  Jesus  and  I  has  got  a  big  job  be- 
fore us,  but  we  '11  be  good  for  it;"  and  she  sang: 

"'Jesus  all  the  day  long 
Is  my  joy  and  my  song.' 

Blessed  Jesus!  He  is  here.  He  makes  me 
happy  now.  Jesus  and  I  can  get  through  it,  sure. 
Glory!     Hallelujah!" 

She  would  stand  in  the  center  of  the  gallery 
in  Hookstown  church,  at  love-feast,  and  narrate 
her  experience;  profess  that  she  had  had  her 
heart  cleansed  and  perfected  in  love,  and  then  she 
would  sing: 

"Arise,  my  soul,  arise! 

Shake  off  thy  guilty  fears." 

My  mother  believed  in  Aunt  Violet's  deep  and 
consistent  piety,  and  being  a  member  of  the  Bible 
Society,  and  charged  with  seeing  that  every  house 
that  would  receive  it  should  have  a  copy  of  the 
Bible,  she  procured  a  large  Bible  and  presented  it 
to  Aunt  Violet.  She  kept  it  wrapped  in  a  snowy 
towel,  and  deposited  in  her  ample  chest.  When 
young  or  old  would  visit  her  she  would  take  out 
the  Bible,  and, with  a  sweet  smile,  say:  " My  Heav- 
enly Father  has  sent  Aunt  Violet  a  big  letter,  but 


Westward   Ho!  55 

she  can  not  read  a  word  of  all  this  letter;  now 
won't  yon  read  a  portion  for  me,  that  I  may  hear 
what  Great  Master  says  to  me?"  Who  could  re- 
fuse a  request  so  uttered  by  the  holy  woman?  She 
was  as  polite  as  she  was  pious.  Every  time  I 
visited  her,  she  would  bring  out  her  Bible.  While 
I  was  reading  she  would  sit  and  pray  and  praise 
the  Lord.  She  would  draw  in  her  breath,  hearing 
as  if  by  inspiration.  I  would  feel  strangely  af- 
fected, so  that  I  dreaded  this  ordeal.  My  lips 
would  quiver  and  my  tears  flow.  I  would  be  so 
filled  with  emotion  that  I  would  have  to  stop 
reading.  I  would  then  select  some  historical  or 
genealogical  portion ;  but  before  I  knew  it  I  would 
feel  the  strange  emotions  again,  produced  by  the 
sacred  Word.  By  the  fervent  prayers  of  Aunt 
Violet,  the  Holy  Spirit  would  take  of  the  things 
of  Christ,  and  show  them  unto  me. 

Now  came  the  crucial  test.  My  brother  John 
had  married  and  moved  to  Norwich,  Muskingum 
County,  Ohio,  and  entered  into  merchandising. 
He  wrote  to  me  and  my  parents,  inviting  me  to 
spend  a  year  in  his  store;  that  he  would  start  a 
good  store  in  the  country  at  an  eligible  site,  make 
me  a  partner,  and  we  would  both  do  well. 

It  was  so  arranged,  and  I  was  to  start  on  Mon- 
day, August  31,  1 83 1.  The  morning  came;  break- 
fast was  over ;  family  prayers  followed,  in  which 
my  father  led,  and  asked  God's  blessing  upon  the 
enterprise,  and  implored  his  blessing  upon  me  in 
particular,  praying  that  God  would  say  unto  me: 
"Wilt  thou  not  say  unto  me   at   this  time,   My 


56  Granville  Moody. 

Father,  thou  art  the  guide  of  my  youth?"  Then, 
pronouncing  his  blessing  upon  me,  we  all  arose. 
Mother  kissed  me  good-bye,  and  my  sisters,  Har- 
riet, Louisa,  Ellen,  and  Sarah,  gave  me  the  sweet 
parting  kiss.  Josiah  Chew  and  all  the  servants 
bade  me  good-bye,  whilst  "  Kitty,"  a  smart  gray 
mare,  stood  chewing  her  bit  and  stamping  her 
feet,  anxious  to  be  released.  I  went  out  and  ad- 
justed my  saddle-bags,  and  was  about  to  mount, 
when  I  remembered  Uncle  Jim  and  Aunt  Violet. 
I  said:  "I  must  not  forget  them;  I  '11  run  up  and 
say  good-bye." 

I  found  them  at  the  table,  eating  their  break- 
fast. Everything  was  in  perfect  neatness  and 
order.  I  broke  in,  saying:  "  Well,  Uncle  Jim  and 
Aunt  Violet,  I  am  just  starting  to  go  to  Ohio,  and 
I  came  up  to  bid  you  good-bye."  "  Good-bye, 
young  Massa  Granville,"  said  Uncle  Jim.  Aunt 
Violet  rose  from  the  table,  and  I  extended  my 
hand  and  said :  "  Good-bye,  Aunt  Violet ;  good-bye." 
She  took  my  hand  in  hers,  and  held  it.  I  backed 
out  of  the  cabin  door,  and  she  followed  me  into 
the  yard,  and  we  stopped.  Holding  on  to  my 
hand,  she  said :  "  Young  Master,  I  must  speak  to 
you.  I  hope  you  will  kindly  receive  what  I  am 
going  to  say  to  you  now.  You  is  going  far,  far 
away,  and  this  may  be  the  last  chance  to  speak  to 
you.  You  has  been  well  raised.  Your  father  and 
mother  are  good  Christian  people.  They  have 
set  you  a  good  example;  have  prayed  for  and 
with  you  every  night  and  morning;  have  taken 
you   to  Church  and   Sabbath-school,  and   taught 


Westward  Ho!  57 

you  the  catechism  of  your  people's  Church ;  and 
yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  you  has  steadily  gone 
on  in  your  wicked  ways;  and  now  I  fear  you  is 
worse  and  further  from  God  and  salvation  and 
hope  than  ever  you  was  before.  And  now  you  is 
going  to  leave  all  these  good  influences,  and  going 
away  out  to  de  West,  'way  beyond  de  mountains, 
and  among  a  people  that  do  n't  care  for  God  nor 
for  your  soul.  O,  what  will  become  of  you,  young 
master?  Besides  all  this,  God's  Holy  Spirit  has 
done  his  office  on  your  heart  powerfully,  I  know. 
When  I  used  to  ask  you  to  read  my  Bible,  which 
your  precious  mother  gave  me  for  my  own,  while 
you  read  I  prayed  that  it  might  do  you  good  as 
well  as  me,  and  I  often  saw  how  the  truth  of  Jesus 
would  affect  you,  and  your  voice  would  fail  you, 
and  your  lips  would  tremble,  and  your  eyes  over- 
flow with  tears.  I  was  praying  that  God  would 
use  his  own  word  by  his  present  Spirit  to  convince 
you  of  sin,  and  to  give  you  conviction  in  order  to 
your  conversion.  But  you  resisted  de  Holy  Spirit; 
and  oftentimes,  when  you  was  swearing  at  the 
hands  or  the  horses,  I  has  drapped  right  down  upon 
my  knees  wherever  I  mought  have  been,  and 
prayed  for  you,  dat  de  Lord  would  not  lay  these 
things  to  your  charge,  but  give  you  repentance 
unto  life  not  to  be  repented  of.  But  you  have 
grown  worse  and  worse,  and  now  you  are  further 
off  from  God  than  ever  you  was  before,  and  are 
going  away,  like  the  prodigal  son,  into  a  far-off 
country.  O  yes,  young  master ;  the  Holy  Spirit 
has  done  his  duty  with  you,  and  called  you  to  re- 


58  Granville  Moody. 

pentance,  and  I  have  felt  his  presence  with  the 
Word  you  so  often  read  for  me.  I  did  hope  it 
might  do  you  good,  and  cause  you  to  turn  to  de 
Lord  and  seek  salvation  from  de  reigning  power 
of  sin  to  newness  of  a  holy  life." 

All  this  time  she  held  me  by  my  right  hand, 
and  became  wonderfully  earnest.  She  swayed  her 
person  up  and  down,  right  and  left,  while  streams 
of  tears  attested  her  holy  agony  for  my  welfare. 
Her  arm  was  bare  to  her  shoulder,  and  a  neat 
little  white  band,  an  inch  wide,  contrasted  strangely 
with  the  jet-black  skin  of  her  sinewy  arms  with 
large  veins,  which  seemed  leaping  with  the  ex- 
citement she  felt  and  showed,  as  she  pleaded 
with  me  to  submit  myself  to  God  and  begin  a 
new  life.  At  length  she  let  go  of  my  hand,  and 
raised  her  long  black  arm  toward  the  skies,  and  said : 
u  Young  master,  I  has  done  my  duty  for  the  last 
time.  And  now,"  she  said,  standing  with  that 
long  black  arm  extended,  "and  now  let  me  charge 
you,  Master  Granville,  do  n't  you  meet  me  at  the 
judgment-seat  of  Christ  in  an  unconverted  state; 
for  if  you  do,  Aunt  Violet  must  there  appear  as  a 
swift  witness  against  you.  The  Holy  Ghost  has 
done  his  work  on  your  heart  a  many  a  time ;  and 
now  I  say  to  you,  Don't,  O  don't  go  on  in  sin. 
Do  n't  live  and  die  in  your  sins ;  for  if  you  do, 
you  will  make  it  necessary  for  Aunt  Violet  to  come 
out  against  you  there  as  a  witness  in  that  great 
day.  De  Lord  lead  you  to  repentance  and  salva- 
tion, and  no  one  will  be  more  glad  than  Old  Aunt 
Violet  will  be  to  hear  of  your  choosing  the  good 


Westward   Ho!  59 

part,  which  shall  not  be   taken    away   from   you. 
Farewell,  young  master,  farewell." 

There  I  stood  like  a  culprit  before  this  Neme- 
sis, this  voice  of  God.  As  sentence  followed  sen- 
tence, and  appeal  followed  appeal,  and  my  con- 
science attested  the  truth  of  every  charge,  my 
mouth  was  stopped.  I  was  appalled,  and  shrank 
from  her  earnestness.  Her  most  eloquent  appeal 
convinced  me  that  God  was  speaking  through  her 
to  me.  How  I  got  away  from  the  breezy  shade 
of  the  peach-tree,  beneath  which  we  both  stood, 
while  sunlight  struggled  through  the  leaves,  I  can 
never  tell;  but  I  was  most  powerfully  convinced 
of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment  to  come; 
and,  like  Felix,  I  trembled  with  dismay,  and  went 
along  that  string  of  fencing  with  far  different 
feelings  than  when  I  went  up  half  an  hour  before. 
I  said  nothing  to  my  parents  of  what  had  oc- 
curred, but  mounted  my  horse  and  left,  with  my 
parents'  benison  and  my  sisters'  weeping  faces  and 
utterances  of  good-bye.  As  I  rode  along  the  pike 
to  Hookstown,  I  cast  weary,  longing,  lingering 
looks  behind.  The  arrows  of  the  Almighty  were 
sticking  fast  within  me,  and  tall,  gaunt,  gesturing, 
warning  Aunt  Violet  stood  before  my  vision.  Her 
closing  words,  "  Do  n't  meet  me  at  the  judgment- 
seat  of  Christ,  or  Aunt  Violet  will  be  compelled 
to  appear  as  a  swift  witness  against  you  there," 
rung  like  the  knell  of  destiny  in  my  ears.  I  tried 
to  reason  away  the  spell  that  rested  upon  me ;  but 
that  tall,  gaunt,  figure,  and  that  lifted  and  ex- 
tended black   arm   pointing   upward  "would   not 


60  Granville  Moody. 

down."  Aunt  Violet  was  a  Christian ;  her  char- 
acter was  her  own,  and  her  reputation  was  coin- 
cident with  it.  There  was  a  gentleness  and  gen- 
tility in  her  mien,  and  a  pathos,  a  power  of 
persuasion  and  eloquence  and  point  in  her,  that  was 
admirable  and  potent ;  and,  withal,  there  was  the 
presence  of  the  same  Spirit  that  aided  Paul  in 
preaching  to  L,ydia  and  the  jailer  and  Felix  and 
Agrippa.  My  conscience  echoing  her  words  of 
truth  and  soberness,  I  could  not  reason  away  the 
feelings  that  swayed  my  bosom. 

I  arrived  at  my  destination  on  my  ninth  day 
from  home,  September  8th.  My  trip  across  the 
Alleghany  Mountains  was  delightful.  What  alti- 
tudes! What  ranges  of  vision,  mountain  slopes, 
gurgling  rills,  rivulets,  and  rivers  !  The  National 
Road  has  been  superseded  by  the  railroads,  the 
great  wagons  and  stage-coaches  as  well.  The 
taverns,  with  their  six-foot  long  grates ;  rooms 
filled  with  wagoners  and  travelers ;  their  vast  table 
comforts  of  mountain-mutton,  corn-bread,  hominy, 
venison,  bear-meat,  pheasants,  partridges,  and  wild 
turkeys;  stables  brimming  with  mountain-oats, — 
these  are  all  of  the  past. 

Norwich,  O.,  was  the  Mecca  of  my  hopes.  It 
was  a  town  of  less  than  a  thousand  inhabitants. 
My  brother  welcomed  me,  and  I  set  to  work  at 
once  with  a  will  to  learn  the  business.  The  first 
Sabbath  came,  and  I  went  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  A  great  crowd  of  people  was  there,  and 
the  regular  pastor  conducted  services  in  an  aus- 
tere,   dogmatic,    and    self-sufficient   manner.     He 


Westward   Ho!  6i 

preached  a  rigid  Calvinistic  sermon.  Intermission 
for  an  hour  was  announced,  and  then  followed 
another  sermon.  The  membership  partook  of  the 
austerity  of  their  pastor ;  and,  stranger  though  I 
was,  no  one  spoke  to  me.  I  felt  like  a  stranger 
among  strangers,  and  fastening  to  them  seemed 
like  anchoring  to  the  north  side  of  an  iceberg, 
where  gloom  and  shadow  abide. 

In  my  awakened  state  of  alarm  and  concern  I 
had,  before  coming  to  Norwich,  settled  down  upon 
a  purpose  to  forsake  a  sinful  life,  and  "cease  to  do 
evil  and  learn  to  do  well."  Under  all  my  pre- 
vious training,  and  especially  under  the  close 
personal  exhortation  of  Aunt  Violet,  I  was  among 
the  class  of  persons  who  are  said  to  be  "prepared 
for  the  Lord."  My  morality  was  unexceptionable 
to  the  people  of  Norwich,  and  I  was  looking  for 
the  open  door. 

The  next  Sabbath  was  the  regular  preaching- 
day  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Rev. 
John  W.  Gilbert  was  preacher  in  charge,  and 
Rev.  Levi  P.  Miller  junior  preacher.  The  junior 
preacher  was  to  officiate,  and  I  went  to  hear  him. 
He  was  as  "one  that  hath  a  pleasant  voice,  and 
can  play  well  upon  an  instrument."  His  preach- 
ing was  evangelical,  instructive,  and  consoling. 
He  was  a  Barnabas,  a  son  of  consolation,  very 
amiable  in  spirit  and  winning  in  address.  At 
the  close  of  the  meeting  the  people  shook  hands 
with  me,  gave  me  kind  looks,  and  said,  "Come 
again."  The  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school 
invited  me  to  attend  his  school  at  two  P.  M.,  which 


62  Granville  Moody. 

I  did,  having  been  used  to  Sunday-school  from 
my  early  childhood.  I  was  assigned  to  teach  a 
vacant  class,  and  thus  was  harnessed  and  put  to 
work  at  once.  A  few  weeks  passed,  crowded  with 
business  six  days  and  Church-work  nearly  all  day 
Sunday ;  yet  my  heart  was  burdened  and  longing 
for  the  pardoning  voice  of  a  forgiving  God — long- 
ing for  a  deliverance  of  my  soul  from  the  burden 
of  condemnation  and  the  bondage  of  my  corrup- 
tion into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  the 
Lord  God  Almighty. 

There  was  one  member  for  whom  I  conceived 
the  highest  regard.  I  reverenced  his  godly  char- 
acter. This  was  Isaiah  Brown.  When  he  spoke 
in  meeting,  it  was  in  the  demonstration  of  the 
Spirit  and  with  power.  When  he  prayed,  it  seemed 
to  me  that  he  was  talking  with  God.  When  he 
sang,  he  seemed  to  be  making  melody  in  his  heart 
to  the  Lord,  whilst  he  spoke  to  the  people  in 
psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs.  He  always 
became  unspeakably  happy  in  singing  the  hymn 
beginning, 

"  My  God,  the  spring  of  all  my  joys." 

He  was  an  illiterate  man,  a  cooper  by  trade, 
yet  he  wore  Jehovah's  seal  upon  his  brow.  With 
tearful  eyes  and  uplifted  countenance,  all  illumi- 
nated by  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  would  close  the  hymn 
in  ecstasies. 

About  the  first  week  in  October  my  brother's 
wife,  who  was  a  Baltimore  Methodist,  invited  the 
junior  preacher  to  take  tea  with  her  family.     After 


Westward  Ho!  63 

supper  was  over,  my  brother  attended  the  store, 
leaving  us  three  together.  Conversation  followed 
about  Methodism,  to  which  I  was  a  stranger,  hav- 
ing been  raised  after  the  straitest  sect  of  New 
England  Congregationalism,  with  the  very  highest 
regard  for  and  deference  to  the  "Saybrook  Plat- 
form," a  rigid  Calvinistic  body  of  divinity.  We 
both  soon  had  our  hands  full.  Feeling  an  obliga- 
tion to  the  faith  of  my  ancestors,  I  set  my 
squadrons  on  the  field  in  the  five  points  of  Calvin- 
ism,— unconditional  election,  particular  redemp- 
tion, total  depravity,  grace  irresistible,  and  perse- 
verance of  the  saints.  I  had  the  answers  of  the 
catechism  at  my  tongue's  end.  I  had  also  in 
memory  the  Confession  of  Faith,  with  its  formu- 
lated doctrines  and  supposed  proofs,  cited  by  the 
Westminster  divines;  so  that  I  had  the  advan- 
tage of  the  preacher,  who  had  not  been  trained 
Calvinistically  or  polemically.  The  disputation 
lasted  till  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  On  his 
leaving  for  his  lodgings,  sister  Mary  said  :  "  Well, 
Brother  Granville,  you  need  not  think  to  get 
Brother  Miller  to  adopt  your  notions,  for  he  has 
been  brought  up  a  Methodist,  and  has  been  received 
into  the  conference."  "Now,  sister  Mary,"  said 
I,  "just  change  the  terms  and  your  remarks  will 
apply  to  me  as  well,  except  the  conference.  I  do 
not  think  he  answered  one  of  my  arguments ; 
do  you  ?" 

The  latter  part  of  the  week  Brother  Miller, 
with  smiling  countenance,  calling  me  "  Bub,"  said : 
"  Will  you  read  a  book  on  the  subjects  we  talked 


64  Granville  Moody. 

about  nearly  all  night,  without  reaching  any  con- 
clusions?" "Certainly  I  will.  What  is  the  name 
of  the  book?"  '"Fletcher's  Checks.'  They  are 
checks  to  the  system  of  doctrine  you  defended  so 
zealously,"  he  replied.  Said  I:  "I  should  like  to 
see  any  one  attempt  to  check  the  faith  once  deliv- 
ered to  the  saints.  I  will  read  carefully,  and  write 
you  a  reply."  In  the  evening  he  handed  me  a 
large  book  marked  Vol.  I,  of  four  volumes.  I 
thought  that  "Fletcher's  Checks"  was  a  two- 
penny pamphlet,  and  I  was  not  prepared  to  face 
so  formidable  a  work.  The  books  I  had  had  ac- 
cess to  were  in  favor  of  Calvinism.  I  had  never 
heard  of  Fletcher  or  any  of  the  representative 
men  of  Methodism.  I  took  the  book,  and  read  and 
read,  and  pondered  much,  and  reasoned  as  well  as 
I  could.  I  borrowed  the  remaining  volumes,  and 
compared  the  several  teachings  with  the  Bible. 
I  recollect  my  mental  processes  as  one  morning  I 
sat  sideways  to  the  counter  and  closed  my  eyes, 
comparing  the  truth  of  God  with  "  the  hoary  faith 
of  my  ancestors."  Taking  up  "  Fletcher's  Checks," 
I  said:  "This  man  is  right  in  his  views  on  all 
the  five  points  of  Calvinism,  and  I  now  believe 
with  him  in  conditional  election  of  believers  in 
Christ  to  salvation ;  universal  atonement  in  Christ 
for  every  child  of  man ;  a  graciously  alleviated 
depravity ;  grace  resistible,  but  not  resisted  by 
the  saved ;  the  amissibility  of  grace."  Thus  was 
I  brought  out  of  Calvinism  by  being  placed  in 
contact  with  the  master  mind  of  Methodism. 

I  bless  God  that  I  ever  read  Fletcher's  works, 


Westward    Ho  !  65 

so  clear,  cogent,  and  conclusive.  Rev.  Levi  P. 
Miller  was  always  afterwards  my  warm  personal 
friend.  He  labored  till  old  age  arrested  him, 
when  he  had  to  retire  from  the  conference.  Plow- 
ing corn  on  his  little  farm,  he  ran  a  broken  bone 
into  his  foot ;  lockjaw  developed,  then  death.     We 

shall  meet  in  heaven. 

6 


66  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CONVERSION. 

THE  reception  of  this  new  mode  of  thought  of 
God,  of  man,  of  morals,  of  immortality,  was 
the  means  of  bringing  me  into  the  spirit  of  bond- 
age to  fear.  The  logic  of  Calvinism  had  its  effect 
upon  my  mind  and  heart,  my  hopes  and  fears  as 
well.  I  reasoned  thus:  "I  am  one  of  the  elect,  or 
I  am  one  of  the  reprobates.  If  I  am  one  of  the 
elect,  in  God's  time  and  in  due  time  I  shall  have 
that  effectual  calling  of  which  I  have  learned  in 
the  Catechism,  even  that  work  of  God  on  and  in 
my  heart  by  which  I  shall  be  persuaded  and  en- 
abled to  accept  Christ  as  offered  to  me  in  the 
Gospel.  I  shall,  under  a  sight  and  sense  of  my 
sins,  have  Christ  revealed  to  me  as  my  Savior; 
for  thus  all  the  elect  are  brought  in.  Neither  are 
any  others  redeemed,  called,  justified,  or  regen- 
erated, but  the  elect  only.  When  God  wants  me 
converted,  he  will  visit  me  with  his  effectual  call- 
ing. If  I  am  one  of  the  reprobate,  I  shall  be  lost, 
do  what  I  may ;  for  none  but  the  elect  shall  be 
visited  with  effectual  calling.  All  others  are 
passed  by,  and  ordained  to  wrath  for  their  sins, 
to  the  praise  of  God's  glorious  justice.  So,  elect 
or  reprobate,  my  case  is  fixed  by  the  universal 
divine  agency  of  God  and  his  all-embracing  decrees." 
Thus,  tempest-tossed  and  not  comforted,  I  was 


Conversion.  67 

driven  from  reef  to  rock.  The  five  points  of 
Calvinism  seemed  how  to  be  reduced,  by  the  irref- 
ragable logic  of  John  Fletcher,  into  a  quintet  of 
endless  jargon,  confusion  worse  confounded.  I 
was  led  into  the  faith  of  the  Arminian  Remon- 
strants. The  counterpart  of  the  five  points  of 
Calvinism  now  appeared  to  me  to  be  the  common 
salvation.  These  doctrines,  new  to  me,  had  the 
effect  of  answering  my  every  objection.  They 
laid  my  guilt  and  ill-desert  at  my  own  door; 
placed  God  on  the  throne  in  his  own  glorious  per- 
fections, all  complete;  placed  me  at  the  footstool 
of  his  mercy,  commanding  me  to  "behold  the 
Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world."  Eternal  life  is  communicable  to  all  on 
the  same  terms.  These  wondrous  and  harmonious 
truths  were  the  burden  of  the  gospel  messages 
which  greeted  my  willing  ears  from  Sabbath  to 
Sabbath.  They  were  made  prominent  in  the 
Sunday-school.  These  exceeding  great  and  pre- 
cious promises  were  reduced  to  the  test  of  ex- 
perience in  the  lively  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Norwich,  and  in  all  the 
region  round  about.  They  were  the  themes  of 
thought  spread  on  the  truth-illumined  pages  of 
the  newspapers  of  the  Church,  the  "Advocates" 
of  Christianity. 

One  night  I  had  attended  a  called  meeting  of 
the  officers  and  teachers  of  the  Sunday-school. 
The  subject  for  consideration  was:  "By  what 
means  may  we  lead  our  scholars  to  Christ,  and 
secure  their  salvation?"     Much  was  said  that  was 


68  Granville  Moody. 

good  and  wise.  At  the  close,  I  walked  homeward 
with  Isaiah  Brown.  He  said  to  me:  ''Brother 
Moody,  we  ought  indeed  to  labor  with  our  pupils 
so  that  their  conversion  may  be  secured."  I 
thought,  Now  is  my  opportunity  to  secure  the 
sympathy  of  this  good  man,  and  I  promptly  said: 
"Mr.  Brown,  I  more  need  such  instruction  and 
influence  to  secure  my  own  conversion;  for  I  am 
myself  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  in  the  bonds 
of  iniquity,  and  my  heart  is  not"  right  in  the  sight 
of  God,  and  therefore  I  have  neither  part  nor  lot 
in  this  matter.  Will  you  not  pray  to  the  Lord  that 
he  will  take  away  my  heart  of  stone,  and  give  me 
a  heart  of  flesh?"  He  raised  both  hands  and 
said:  "Why,  Brother  Moody,  I  thought  that  in- 
deed you  were  already  a  Christian.  Be  sure  I 
will  pray  for  you  at  least  three  times  a  day — at 
six  A.  M.,  and  one  and  six  P.  M.  You  may  be 
assured  I  will  be  in  my  closet  and  upon  my  knees 
in  prayer  to  God  for  you  by  name ;  be  sure  I  will, 
and  you  do  the  same  for  yourself."  I  requested 
him  to  keep  this  secret,  and  said  if  I  found  the 
Lord  I  would  confess  him  before  men. 

Business  wras  very  brisk;  but  never  did  the 
pressure  of  my  sin-burdened  soul  cease.  My  lan- 
guage was :  "  O  that  I  knew  where  I  might  find 
God !  I  would  order  my  cause  before  him ;  I 
would  fill  my  mouth  with  arguments;  I  would 
wait  for  my  sentence  from  my  Judge."  I  felt 
the  guilt  of  my  sin,  my  desert  of  punishment  for 
my  iniquities,  which  were  great.  I  bewailed  my 
depravity,  and  mourned  over  my  prevalent  dispo- 


Conversion.  69 

sition  to  sin  against  God,  which  mastered  my  mind 
and  ruled  in  my  evil  heart  of  unbelief  in  departing 
from  the  living  God.  I  daily  found  a  warfare,  such 
as  that  described  in  Romans  vii.  "  O  wretched  man 
that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this 
death?"  was  my  anxious  cry,  my  utmost  and  all- 
engrossing  solicitude,  and  almost  despairing  outcry. 
Sometimes  hope  inspired  my  soul,  and  then  I  al- 
most feared  that  peradventure  I  had  passed  the 
limits  of  God's  grace,  and  my  sins  had  justly 
separated  between  me  and  my  God.  Truly  this 
was  the  spirit  of  bondage  to  fear,  and  such  bond- 
age and  such  fear  of  a  God  who  is  to  the  un- 
pardoned and  unaccepted  only  as  a  consuming 
fire.  Thus  did  it  please  the  Lord  to  bruise  me,  to 
put  me  to  grief.  Truly  all  his  waves  passed  over 
me.  I  found  trouble  and  sorrow;  then  called  I 
upon  the  Lord :  O  Lord,  I  beseech  thee  deliver  my 
soul  from  this  burden  of  condemnation,  and  from 
this  bondage  of  corruption,  and  enable  me  to  flee 
from  this  damnation  of  hell.  But  God  saw  it  best 
for  this  agony  of  sorrow  to  continue  for  about  three 
weeks  ere  the  joy  of  his  salvation  came  into  my 
soul.  Fast  bound  with  the  bonds  of  iniquity,  my 
heart  not  right  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  not  right 
in  my  own  sight,  how  I  watched  for  the  light  of 
the  morning  of  salvation !  O,  how  I  sighed  for  the 
coming  Deliverer  and  the  deliverance !  Frequent, 
vivid  recollections  of  my  parting  interview  with 
Aunt  Violet  came  up, — her  entirely  unexpected 
meeting  with  me ;  her  kind  solicitude  for  my  spir- 
itual welfare;  her  calling  my  sins   to  our  mutual 


jo  Granville  Moody. 

remembrance;  her  allusion  to  my  pious  parents 
and  their  care  for  my  spiritual  interests ;  the  morn- 
ing and  evening  family  worship ;  her  reference  to 
the  effect  of  the  reading  of  her  own  Bible  by  me 
to  her,  in  answer  to  her  concurrent  prayer  for  my 
welfare;  her  assigning  the  convictions  I  had  felt 
to  the  Holy  Spirit;  and  her  final  charge  :  "  Young 
master,  do  n't  meet  me  at  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ  in  an  unconverted  state;  if  you  do,  Aunt 
Violet  must  appear  a  swift  witness  against  you 
there."  Hers  was  a  message  from  God,  per- 
formed not  perfunctorily,  but  as  if  immediately 
moved  of  the  Spirit  to  speak  to  me,  and  it  proved 
the  power  of  God  to  my  salvation. 

Thus  week  by  week  sped  on,  I  visiting  Brother 
Brown  in  his  shop.  Busily  engaged,  I  can  see 
him  now,  with  stalwart  form,  sinewy  arm,  placid 
countenance,  beaming  eye,  and  ready  tongue 
to  speak  a  word  to  a  weary  one,  as  I  sat  beside 
him  and  listened  to  his  instructive  voice  showing 
me  the  way  of  salvation.  Thanksgiving-day  came 
on  November  25th,  in  1831.  The  Methodists,  ac- 
cording to  their  custom,  held  their  prayer-meeting 
on  Thursday  evening.  I  attended.  There  was 
a  goodly  number  present,  and  the  services  were 
devout  and  cheery  to  the  Church ;  but  my  spirit 
was  in  dissonance  with  theirs.  Fierce  trials  were 
upon  me.  Doubts  and  fear  prevailed,  and  I  was 
in  a  perplexed  state  of  mind,  and  far  from  God. 
It  seemed  to  me  to  be  the  hour  of  darkness  and 
the  power  of  the  evil  one.  I  had  sought  the  Lord 
for  nearly  three  months;  I  had  ceased  to  do  evil, 


Conversion.  71 

and  had  tried  to  do  well;  but  no  peace,  rather 
waning  hope  and  distraction  of  mind.  A  broken 
law,  with  its  soul-withering  curse;  a  reproving 
conscience,  which  would  not  rest ;  bondage  through 
fear  of  death  ;  an  apprehension  of  fiery  indigna- 
tion beyond  the  grave, — these,  like  dreadful  cata- 
racts, poured  wrath  and  misery  upon  me  ;  while 
divine  knowledge,  heavenly  peace,  gospel  purity, 
the  love  of  God  shed  abroad  in  their  hearts,  and 
blooming  hopes,  like  celestial  fountains,  commu- 
nicated streams  of  joy  and  gladness  to  the  souls 
of  the  peaceful  worshipers  that  evening.  Strange 
contrast  between  them  and  my  poor  desolate, 
agitated  soul ! 

The  assembly  was  dismissed,  but  I  lingered  in 
one  of  the  back  seats  of  the  church.  Six  brethren 
tarried,  and  gathered  around  the  stove  in  cheer- 
ful conversation.  I  left  my  seat,  and  walked  up 
to  the  group,  composed  of  Isaiah  Brown,  Israel 
and  Enos  Jennings,  Lewis  Virden,  Israel  Putnam, 
and  Rev.  E.  D.  Roe.  They  each  shook  hands 
with  me,  and  one  of  them  said :  "We  had  a  good 
meeting  this  evening,  Brother  Moody."  I  replied  : 
"I  am  glad  you  enjoyed  it;  but  it  has  been  a  most 
unhappy  time  for  me."  Brother  Brown  then  told 
them  that  I  had  been  seeking  religion  for  a  num- 
ber of  months.  O,  how  it  shocked  me,  that  this 
man,  whom  I  thought  to  be  the  best  man  I 
had  ever  known,  to  whom  I  had  committed  my 
secret,  which  he  promised  to  keep,  should  now 
tell  it  to  these  brethren  without  my  consent! 
Satan  took  advantage  of  me,  and  I   turned   upon 


72  Granville  Moody. 

my  heel  and  went  toward  the  door,  thinking,  with 
Jonah,  that  I  did  well  to  be  angry.  A  sudden 
and  strong  impression  came  upon  me  to  return 
and  ask  the  brethren  to  pray  for  me.  I  obeyed 
the  impulse,  and,  extending  my  hand  to  Mr.  Brown, 
asked  him  to  pray  for  me,  bursting  into  tears  as  I 
spoke.  He  assured  me  that  he  had  been  praying 
for  me  since  the  evening  I  had  disclosed  to  him 
my  state  of  mind.  But  I  said:  "I  want  you  to 
pray  for  me  here  and  now."  He  prayed,  and  such 
a  prayer  I  have  seldom  heard  before  or  since. 
The  darkness  darker  seemed,  and  I  asked  Brother 
Israel  Jennings  to  pray.  While  he  and  the  other 
brethren,  whom  I  called  on  in  succession,  prayed, 
I  agonized  in  prayer ;  but  the  distance  between 
God  and  me  seemed  to  increase.  Then  I  called 
on  them  in  rotation  again,  till  twelve  prayers  were 
offered,  while  the  heavens  became  as  iron  above 
me.  Then  Brother  Brown  said:  "  Brother  Moody, 
the  fire  has  gone  out,  and  all  the  candles  but  one, 
and  it  will  soon  expire  ;  let  us  go  home."  I  looked, 
and  lo !  there  was  one  faint  candle,  with  blackened 
wick  two  inches  long;  the  unplastered  walls  ab- 
sorbed the  glimmering  rays,  and  the  ceiling,  dark 
with  coal-smoke,  reflected  no  ray  of  light;  and  I 
was  but  the  deeper  impressed  with  the  gloominess 
of  my  situation.  I  then  prayed  myself,  telling  the 
Lord  all  my  heart-rending  woe,  my  anguish  and 
distress,  and  pleaded  the  all-availing  name  of 
Jesus  as  my  only  plea,  and  as  my  exclusive  trust 
and  hope:  "  Lord,  I  believe  in  Jesus  Christ.  O, 
help  my  unbelief!     O,  look  upon  the  face  of  thine 


Conversion.  73 

Anointed,  and  then  look  upon  me  with  eyes  of 
love,  and  give  me  the  smile  of  acceptance,  which 
shall  seal  thy  salvation  to  my  soul.  O,  reach 
down  thy  powerful  hand,  and  take  me  from  this 
horrible  pit  in  which  I  am,  and  from  the  miry 
clay,  and  set  my  feet  upon  the  rock,  and  put  the 
new  song  into  my  mouth.  For  Jesus' sake  I  ask." 
Joy  and  peace  now  pervaded  my  soul.  I  felt 
I  had  experienced  a  great  change,  being  trans- 
lated from  the  kingdom  and  power  of  darkness 
into  the  kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son.  The  breth- 
ren were  glad,  and,  grasping  my  hand,  they  said : 
"You  are  through  now,  glory  to  God!  You  are 
through  now."  I  said:  "Yes,  I  hope  so."  One 
of  them  said  :  "You  hope  so  !  Why,  brother,  you 
may  know  your  sins  forgiven,  and  that  your  name 
is  written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life."  "Yes," 
said  Israel  Jennings,  "  for  thirty  years  I  have  had 
the  Spirit  of  God's  Son  bearing  witness  with  my 
spirit  that  I  am  born  of  God,  and  therefore  I  cry, 
'Abba,  Father!'"  As  we  walked  homeward  over 
the  crisp  snow,  the  moon  shining  from  a  cloudless 
sky  into  our  faces,  I  asked  each  of  the  others  the 
momentous  question  answered  by  Mr.  Jennings,  and 
received  substantially  the  same  reply.  One  said : 
"When  you  get  home,  look  at  Romans  viii,  14,  16  ; 
and  Galatians  iv,  6."  I  read  the  passages,  and 
found :  "  For  as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of  God.  The  Spirit 
itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit  that  we  are 
the  children  of  God;"  "And  because  ye  are  sons, 
God  hath  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into  your 

7 


74  Granville  Moody. 

hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father."  "Wonderful!  won- 
derful!  wonderful!"  I  exclaimed.  u  I '11  seek  this 
blessing  for  myself."  Then,  kneeling  at  my  bed- 
side, I  prayed  as  I  never  prayed  before.  Extin- 
guishing the  candle,  I  retired  to  my  pillow.  The 
bright  moonlight  stole  a  glance  into  the  room  as  I 
thought  upon  the  texts,  which  spread  forth  like 
vast  prairie  scenes,  and  rose  up  like  mountain 
ranges  ;  and,  feeling  an  undefinable  spirit  of  peace 
and  reconciliation,  I  fell  asleep  in  Jesus — safe. 

The  next  morning  I  was  up  before  sunrise, 
and  knelt  and  prayed  without  sensible  emotion.  I 
went  to  the  barn  to  feed  three  horses  we  were 
fattening  to  send  to  the  Baltimore  market.  I 
stepped  into  the  oat-bin,  six  feet  wide  by  eight 
feet  long,  containing  at  the  time  about  eighty 
bushels  of  oats,  about  two  feet  deep  at  the  front 
and  sloping  up  to  eight  or  nine  feet  deep  at 
the  back.  I  filled  the  half-bushel  and  turned  to 
go,  when  I  felt  inclined  to  kneel  and  ask  for  the 
blessing  of  assurance  of  which  the  six  brethren 
spoke,  and  which  I  found  portrayed  in  Romans 
and  Galatians  as  the  new  birthright  of  the  sons 
of  God.  I  threw  down  the  half-bushel  and  knelt 
in  the  oats  to  pray  for  the  promised  blessing  of 
the  Holy  Spirit's  attestation  that  I  was  also  a 
child  of  God  by  "  the  washing  of  regeneration  and 
renewing  of  the  Holy  Spirit  shed  upon  me  abun- 
dantly through  Jesus  Christ,  my  Savior ;  that  be- 
ing justified  by  his  grace  I  should  be  made  an 
heir  according  to  the  hope  of  eternal  life."  Kneel- 
ing down  in  the  yielding   oats,  before   I  stopped 


Conversion.  75 

sinking  I  stretched  out  both  my  hands,  and  lifted 
my  face  towards  heaven ;  but  before  my  thoughts 
could  form  themselves  into  prayer,  the  bless- 
ing came  down  upon  me,  and  within  and  through 
and  around  me,  like  a  cataract  of  light  and  love 
and  power  and  joy  and  peace  and  brightness 
and  glory.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  the  sun  had 
shed  forth  an  effluence  of  grace  and  glory,  and 
that  the  Word  made  flesh,  full  of  grace  and  truth, 
was  near;  and  that,  of  his  fullness,  I  received 
grace  for  grace.  It  came  like  rolling  billows  from 
above,  and  swept  me  with  lightning-like  rapidity, 
shedding  abroad  the  love  of  God  in  my  heart,  till 
I  comprehended  with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth 
and  length  and  depth  and  height,  and  was 
made  to  know  the  love  of  Christ  which  passeth 
knowledge,  and  was  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of 
God.  Then  the  eyes  of  my  understanding  were 
enlightened  to  know  what  is  the  hope  of  this  call- 
ing, and  what  the  riches  of  Christ's  inheritance  in 
the  saints,  and  what  is  the  exceeding  greatness 
of  his  power  to  usward  who  believe— the  fullness 
of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all.  Being  renewed  unto 
repentance  unto  life,  that  quickening  Spirit  was 
poured  out  upon  me  from  on  high,  and  I  was 
made  partaker  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  tasted  the 
good  Word  of  God  and  the  powers  of  the  world 
to  come,  and  received  the  blessing  from  God,  good 
measure,  pressed  down,  and  shaken  together  and 
running  over. 

"Of  my  Savior  possessed, 
I  was  perfectly  blessed." 


76  Granville  Moody. 

My  soul  dilated  itself  beyond  its  ordinary  ca- 
pacity, and  expanded  to  receive  this  tide  of  joy 
which  filled  and  overwhelmed  it. 

Nor  was  this  illapse  of  grace  a  merely  mo- 
mentary glare.     It  was  not 

"  Like  lightning  o'er  the  midnight  sky, 
Which  makes  the  darkness  darker  seem;" 

but  rather,  "His  going  forth  was  prepared  as  the 
morning;  and  he  came  unto  me  as  the  rain,  as 
the  latter  and  former  rain  unto  the  earth."  This 
heavenly  visitation  lasted  from  six  to  ten  A.  M., 
in  one  effulgent  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Breakfast  hour  came  and  passed  unnoted.  The 
store  was  obliterated  from  my  mind.  Several 
times  my  unconverted  brother  John  came  down 
to  the  stable,  as  I  was  afterwards  informed,  and 
found  me  in  my  rapturous  amaze,  or  pleading 
with  God  to  awaken  him  also,  and  make  him  par- 
taker of  like  precious  grace.  At  about  ten  o'clock 
my  wise  and  compassionate  Father,  in  very  great 
condescension  to  my  weakness,  graciously  drew  a 
veil  over  glories  too  dazzling  for  mortal  eyes  long 
to  sustain,  and  left  me  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
peace  that  passeth  all  understanding.  "  Glory  be 
to  the  Father  and  to  the  vSon  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost ! 
as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall 
be,  world  without  end.     Amen." 

The  next  week  I  wrote  to  my  parents,  telling 
them  what  I  had  experienced,  and  asking  their 
approval  of  my  choice  of  membership  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  They  responded, 
grateful  to  God  for  his  rich  mercy  to  me,  saying, 


Conversion. 


77 


in  their  joint  letter,  that  whilst  they  much  pre- 
ferred that  I  should  unite  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  as  doctrinally  the  Church  of  my  ancestors 
for  centuries,  and  the  Church  in  which  I  was  con- 
secrated to  God  in  holy  baptism,  yet  still,  if  I 
felt  it  would  suit  me  better  to  be  a  Methodist, 
they  could  and  would  not  interpose  any  serious 
objections,  as  they  believed  that  "Christ  had 
many  of  his  beloved  and  saved  ones,  who  were 
his  true  followers,  though  not  following  Christ 
with  us;  and  that  this  was  specially  true  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  in  which  communion  many  of 
the  Lord's  elect  were  doubtless  found." 

In  my  mother's  letter  a  singular  case  was  re- 
corded. She  wrote  that  on  Thanksgiving-day  she 
sat  up  quite  late  alone  in  the  family-room,  all 
having  retired.  As  she  sat  knitting  by  the  dying 
embers  of  the  fire,  musing,  meditating,  and  pray- 
ing, she  felt  mysteriously  that  one  of  her  children 
was  just  saved ;  it  was  strangely  revealed  to  her 
at  that  hour,  and  she  rejoiced  with  exceeding 
gladness. 


78  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LICENSED  TO  PREACH. 

SHORTLY  after  my  conversion  I  was  invited  to 
the  residence  of  the  gentlemanly  proprietor 
of  the  tavern  to  spend  an  evening  with  a  party 
of  young  people.  I  accepted  the  invitation,  and 
spent  a  pleasant  evening,  socially.  At  nine  o'clock 
a  sumptuous  supper  was  enjoyed,  and  at  ten  a 
fiddler  appeared  and  began  to  twang  his  strings 
in  dancing  strains,  and  the  young  men  chose  part- 
ners for  the  giddy  dance.  I  quietly  went  out  of 
the  room  and  left  the  house,  reminded  by  Scripture 
to  "flee  youthful  lusts."  I  thus  escaped  a  well- 
circumstanced  sin.  Self-denial  must  come  to  the 
front  in  the  Christian  life.  When  we  will  as  God 
wills,  and  do  as  God  admonishes,  we  are  safe. 
The  golden-mouthed  Chrysostom,  when  asked, 
"What  is  the  first  element  in  Christianity ?"  re- 
sponded, "Self-denial."  "What  is  the  second?" 
"Self-denial."  "What  is  the  third?"  he  still  an- 
swered, "  Self-denial." 

On  Christmas,  1831,  the  second  quarterly 
meeting  for  Norwich  Circuit  was  held  in  Norwich. 
At  the  close  of  the  love-feast  on  Sabbath  morn- 
ing I  united  with  the  Church,  securing  the  aid  of 
Isaiah  Brown  to  go  forward  with  me ;  but  when 
I  had  taken  two  or  three  steps,  all  trepidation  left 


Licensed  to  Preach.  79 

me,  and  I  walked  firmly  and  joyously  forward,  and 
gave  my  name  to  Rev.  John  W.  Gilbert.  The 
brethren  rushed  up  around  me  with  congratula- 
tions and  rejoicings,  and  welcomed  me  into  the 
communion  of  saints.  I  was  now  publicly  com- 
mitted to  my  course  as  a  member  of  the  Church. 

In  the  assemblage  of  all  spiritual  blessings  I 
lived,  and  in  the  prompt  discharge  of  every  duty 
I  delighted.  My  walk  was  close  with  God.  I 
was  filled  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  believing,  and 
abounded  in  hope  by  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  I  had  then  no  thought  of  preaching  the 
gospel.  I  was  prompt  at  Sabbath-school  as  a 
teacher,  steady  in  my  attendance  at  class,  always 
present  in  prayer-meeting — praying  when  called 
on.  I  delighted  in  public  worship,  and  found 
supreme  delight  in  attending  upon  the  Lord's 
Supper. 

I  had  told  my  brother,  in  whose  store  I  was 
employed,  that  I  could  not  sell  whisky  to  any 
one;  that  part  of  the  business  I  must  decline 
doing,  though  all  the  stores  in  the  town  sold  it  and 
treated  their  customers  freely.  He  made  no  ob- 
jections to  releasing  me  from  that  part  of  the 
business. 

I  studied  about  forty  pages  a  day.  I  read 
Wesley's  sermons  and  works,  Watson's  "Insti- 
tutes," Fletcher's  works,  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  Bur- 
der's  "Village  Sermons,"  and  the  lives  of  Hester 
Ann  Rogers  and  Jesse  Lee.  My  plan  was  to  rise 
early — say,  five  o'clock  in  the  winter  and  four  the 
rest  of  the  year.     As  business  did  not  begin  till  nine 


80  Granville  Moody. 

o'clock,  I  had  several  of  the  best  hours  of  the  day 
for  careful  reading.     Some  time  in  January,  1832, 
as  I  closed  the  reading  of  the   last  page   of   the 
"Life   of  Jesse   Lee,"  a  seemingly  audible   voice 
said,  in  mandatory  and  emphatic  tones,  to  my  in- 
ner consciousness :    "  Go  and  do  thou  likewise." 
I  was  so  impressed  that  I  looked  up  and  around 
reverently,  when  the  utterance  was  repeated  with 
words   of   thrilling   and   encouraging,  persuasive, 
impelling  power,  conveying  their  divinity  in  tones 
and  emphasis,  though  not  through  verbal  or  audi- 
ble  characters,  yet  with   a   convincing  influence, 
impelling  the    conviction  that  God   himself   had 
spoken  to  me  with  authority  and  force.     I  paused 
in  wondrous  amazement  and  consternation,  think- 
ing intensely   of   saying:    "Send  by  whom  thou 
wilt  send,  but  send  not  me,  O  Lord."     But  these 
thoughts  and  emotions  were  evanescent,  and  sat 
silent  on  my  tongue.     The  sober  second  thought 
prevailed,  and  I  responded :  "  Be  it  unto  me  even 
as    thou   hast   said.     Behold    the   servant  of  the 
Lord."     Instantly  a  gracious  and  glorious  illapse 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  came  upon  me  like  a  heavenly 
baptism.    I  was  alone  in  the  store.    There  I  made 
a  covenant  with  the  Lord,  and  consecrated  to  him 
all  that  I  was  and  had. 

That  divine  vocation  was  my  commencement- 
day.  I  found  my  place  at  once.  I  vowed  to 
make  everything  subservient  to  this  one  great 
business  of  my  new  nature.  This  secret  of  the 
Lord  I  sacredly  kept,  believing  that  in  due  season 
the  Church  would  issue  a  corresponding  call,  and 


Licensed  to  Preach.  8i 

these  two  calls  would  be  my  warrant  for  entering 
and  remaining  in  the  ministry.  My  walk  was 
closer  with  God  from  that  blessed  hour.  I  looked 
forward  to  my  work  in  the  ministry.  O,  how 
carefully  I  watched  over  myself!  I  daily  re- 
newed my  consecration  to  the  Lord,  who  seemed 
to  me  as  the  God  who  maketh  his  mind  known 
to  those  who  walk  with  him.  How  precious  did 
his  Word  become  to  my  inquiring  mind!  I  had 
been  brought  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord.  I  had  my  memory  stored  with  Holy 
Writ  at  home,  and  by  the  plan  in  vogue  in  Sab- 
bath-schools, of  giving  one  blue  ticket  for  com- 
mitting ten  verses  of  the  Bible  to  memory,  a 
white  ticket  for  each  hundred  verses,  and  a  red 
ticket  for  every  thousand  verses.  In  my  ministry 
I  found  great  aid  from  my  early  trained  memory 
and  familiarity  with  the  Word  of  Christ,  which 
dwelt  in  me  mightily.  In  those  blessed  days  I 
fasted  every  Friday.  I  found  this  practice  very 
strengthening  to  my  soul,  and  I  advanced  steadily 
in  the  divine  life. 

As  spring  advanced,  my  brother  and  I  were  on 
the  lookout  for  a  proper  position  for  a  country 
store.  We  found  such  a  site  at  Wade's  farm, 
eight  miles  from  Norwich.  I  boarded  at  the  farm. 
The  domestic  circle  was  made  up  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wade  and  their  daughter,  with  her  husband  and 
flaxen-haired  little  girl.  They  were  members  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.  They  were  plain,  honest, 
Christian  people,  in  a  log-cabin  home.  Here  I 
prosecuted  my  theological  studies.     My   happiest 


82  Granville  Moody. 

days  were  the  rainy  days  of  winter,  when  custom- 
ers were  fewest  and  I  had  time  to  study.  I 
had  made  it  a  rule  to  say  the  Lord's  Prayer  at 
my  bedside ;  then,  as  soon  as  dressed,  to  go  over 
and  start  a  fire  at  the  store;  sweep  out,  and  sit 
down  to  read  till  breakfast.  I  studied  divinity 
without  temptations  to  evil,  or  trials  to  cross  me, 
or  diversions  to  distract  my  mind  from  the  con- 
stantly widening  circle  of  religious  thought.  I 
now  studied  from  sixty  to  eighty  pages  a  day. 
Ever  and  anon  I  would  meditate  on  what  I  had 
studied,  and  try  to  restate  it  in  my  own  language. 
I  would  walk  my  store-room,  classifying  what  I 
had  learned  as  facts,  doctrines,  precepts,  prohibi- 
tions, sanctions,  rewards,  punishments.  Thus  I 
trained  my  memory  to  tenacity,  committing  to  it 
as  to  a  store-house. 

Sitting  one  afternoon  (Thursday,  February  28, 
1832,)  at  the  front  of  my  store,  reading  Fletcher's 
"  Checks,"  I  noticed  a  stalwart  man  riding  up  the 
road  on  horseback.  He  was  seated  on  top  of  a 
two-bushel  bag  of  wheat.  He  was  dressed  in 
homespun,  with  overcoat  and  cape,  and  wore  a 
broad-brim  hat.  Riding  up  to  where  I  sat,  he 
said,  as  one  having  authority:  " Young  man,  the 
Master  has  need  of  you  for  other  work  than  store- 
keeping.  I  have  an  appointment  next  Sabbath  at 
Spry's  meeting-house,  nine  miles  south-east  of 
here,  and  I  wish  you  to  meet  me  there  at  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning  and  exhort  after  I  have 
preached  a  little  while.  My  name  is  Samuel 
Steadman,    a    local   preacher    in    the    Methodist 


Licensed  to  Preach.  83 

Church,  and  a  farmer  in  this  township.  The  Lord 
of  the  harvest  has  work  for  you  to  do.  I  am  on 
my  way  to  mill.  Now  you  go  into  your  store, 
close  the  door,  and  get  down  on  your  knees,  and 
lay  what  I  have  said  to  you  before  the  Lord  in 
prayer;  see  what  he  will  say  to  you,  and  I  will 
stop  on  my  way  home  and  get  your  decision."  I 
asked  him  for  his  authority  for  such  a  salutation, 
as  he  was  an  entire  stranger  to  ine.  He  made 
the  laconic  reply:  "I  know  all  about  you,  young 
man.  Now  mark  my  word,  and  let  me  know 
what  is  your  mind  after  praying  for  divine  di- 
rection." Without  further  conversation,  he  rode 
away,  and  I  did  as  he  told  me.  My  soul  was 
stirred  within  me,  and  God's  baptism  came  upon 
me  wonderfully,  accompanied  with  the  impression: 
"Go  with  him,  nothing  doubting;  for  I  am  with 
you  alway,  even  to  the  end."  O,  how  my  soul 
did  rejoice  and  magnify  the  Lord !  Yet  I  re- 
joiced with  trembling.  I  made  up  my  mind  to 
go  with  the  man.  I  could  at  least  relate  my  ex- 
perience, and  tell  to  sinners  what  a  dear  Savior 
I  had  found.  Mr.  Steadman  returning,  I  told  him 
that  I  would  meet  him  at  the  time  and  place. 

I  started,  but,  having  gone  a  short  distance,  I 
turned  into  the  woods,  and  prayed  to  God  that  if 
he  had  indeed  called  me  to  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry he  would  give  me  knowledge  of  his  will  by 
a  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Immediately  the 
baptism  came  upon  me,  and  I  arose  refreshed  in 
spirit.  I  rode  rapidly  about  a  mile,  when  temp- 
tation came   again,  about   running  before   I    was 


84  Granville  Moody. 

called,  and  I  was  again  on  my  knees,  apologizing 
to  the  Lord  for  my  temerity  in  presuming  that 
the  Head  of  the  Church  would  call  one  so  recently 
converted,  who  knew  so  little  and  needed  to  know 
so  much,  and  whose  opportunities  in  preparation 
had  been  so  small.  At  the  next  mile  something 
said:  "How  can  you  dare  stand  up  as  a  minister 
of  the  mysteries  of  the  Gospel,  when  other  men 
find  it  needful  to  spend  years  in  college  and  a 
theological  seminary  ere  they  venture  to  stand  up 
for  Jesus  before  his  wily  foes?"  I  prayed,  and  re- 
ceived such  a  copious  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
descending  from  on  high,  that  my  heart  was  won- 
derfully enlarged  and  filled  with  God.  Eight  or 
ten  times  I  stopped  and  communed  with  God 
about  entering  upon  the  work  of  the  ministry. 
Within  a  mile  or  less  of  the  Church  I  prayed  the 
last  time;  it  was  a  sweet  communion  with  the 
Father  of  my  spirit,  and  was  accompanied  by  a 
full  surrender  of  my  soul  and  body  and  being  to 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  the  Triune  God,  for 
his  work  and  will.  This  was  followed  by  a  fuller 
communion. 

I  reached  the  church  twenty  minutes  after  ten, 
and  found  that  Mr.  Steadman,  usually  punctual, 
had  not  arrived.  When  he  came  we  entered  the 
pulpit,  and  as  we  knelt  for  silent  prayer,  I  made 
an  entire  surrender  of  myself  to  God,  to  walk 
before  him  while  I  lived  and  to  bless  him  when  I 
died.  The  covenant  was  confirmed  in  an  instant, 
and  when  I  arose  to  my  seat  the  anointing  of  the 
Holy   Spirit   sweetly   assured   me  of   acceptance^ 


Licensed  to  Preach.  85 

assistance,  and  success.  After  the  introductory 
services  by  Mr.  Steadman,  I  spoke  about  twenty- 
five  minutes,  and  gave  out  a  hymn. 

A  fair  opening  had  been  made  on  my  life  work. 
A  divine  voice  seemed  whispering:  "  Fear  not,  for  I 
am  with  thee  ;  be  not  dismayed,  for  I  am  thy  God. 
I  will  help  thee ;  yea,  I  will  uphold  thee.  I  will 
make  crooked  places  straight,  and  rough  places 
smooth.  I  will  be  with  thee  in  trouble.  When 
thou  passest  through  the  fires,  they  shall  not  kin- 
dle upon  thee."  I  went  home  that  afternoon, 
wondering  at  the  love  that  crowned  me  with  lov- 
ing-kindness and  tender  mercy. 

I  heard  that  my  service  was  very  acceptable; 
and  months  afterward,  when  my  name  was  pre- 
sented to  the  quarterly  conference  for  a  license  to 
preach,  Mr.  Spry  said:  "I  heard  this  young  man 
preach  his  first  sermon  at  our  meeting-house,  and 
I  shall  vote  with  both  hands  for  his  license  as  a 
local  preacher.  I  hope  I  shall  have  the  privilege 
of  voting  in  the  affirmative  for  his  recommenda- 
tion to  the  annual  conference  as  a  suitable  person 
to  be  received  on  trial  into  the  traveling  con- 
nection." I  received  the  license ;  and  was  at 
the  same  time  recommended  to  the  Ohio  Annual 
Conference,  to  be  held  in  Cincinnati,  August 
21,  1833. 

I  had  found  my  place.  I  rejoiced  in  my  call- 
ing, and  with  a  new  zest  set  about  giving  all 
diligence  to  get  a  readiness  for  my  great  voca- 
tion. I  had  three  appointments — twelve,  eight, 
and  six  miles  away.     I  wrote  a  sermon  every  week, 


86  Granville  Moody. 

committed  it  to  memory,  and  then  prepared  a 
brief  of  about  four  pages,  the  size  of  my  Testa- 
ment, to  which  I  pinned  it.  I  always  wound  up 
with  an  off-hand  exhortation  to  attention,  to  re- 
pentance, to  prayer,  to  confession  to  God,  to  faith 
in  Christ,  and  profession  before  many  witnesses. 

At  this  time  I  was  engaged  in  packing  butter 
for  the  city  market.  My  cooper  was  a  jovial  man. 
One  week  he  came  with  his  wares,  and  I  did  not 
see  a  fifty-pound  keg  that  I  stood  in  pressing  need 
of.  Accosting  him  earnestly  about  it,  he  said 
quietly:  "Judge  nothing  before  the  time."  Start- 
ing the  hoops  of  a  barrel  and  taking  out  the  head 
revealed  the  smaller  vessel.  I  took  occasion  to  ex- 
hort him  to  be  in  like  manner  "in  Christ;"  that 
if  found  savingly  united  to  Christ  by  faith,  and 
so  remaining  to  the  end,  he  should  be  saved. 
Some  years  after  this  I  attended  a  quarterly 
meeting  on  Norwich  Circuit,  and  this  man  arose 
and  said :  "  Hearing  that  Rev.  Granville  Moody 
was  to  be  at  this  meeting,  I  came  to  tell  him  that 
his  fidelity  to  me,  and  especially  his  remarks 
about  being  in  Christ  as  the  little  firkin  was  in 
the  larger  vessel,  resulted  in  my  spiritual  regen- 
eration. As  a  believer  I  entered  into  Christ,  and, 
abiding  in  him  by  faith,  I  am  saved  with  the 
power  of  an  endless  life." 

In  the  spring  of  1832,  Mr.  and  Miss  Ridgely, 
brother  and  sister  of  Mrs.  John  B.  Moody,  visited 
her.  They  came  in  their  own  carriage,  drawn  by 
two  large,  well-broken  horses.  They  visited  Cin- 
cinnati by  stage.     During  their  absence  I  went  to 


Licensed  to  Preach.  87 

Norwich,  and  my  horse  took  sick.  It  was  neces- 
sary for  me  to  return  to  the  country  store  with 
seven  or  eight  hundred  pounds  of  freight.  I  took 
one  of  Mr.  Ridgely's  team,  and  started.  At  the 
first  hill  the  horse  refused  to  work,  and  acted  quite 
ugly.  I  was  alone.  I  used  all  my  skill  in  vain  to 
get  the  horse  to  pull  a  pound.  He  was  very  rest- 
ive ;  he  made  a  clean  balk,  and  I  was  getting  rest- 
ive too.  Al^at  once  I  tried  a  new  plan  with  him. 
I  knelt  down  and  told  the  Lord  my  dilemma, 
what  I  feared  if  the  horse  still  proved  obstinate  ; 
that  I  knew  what  I  could  do  with  the  horse,  but 
it  might  prove  hazardous  if  I  was  compelled  to  en- 
force discipline.  I  might  succeed,  but  at  the  loss 
of  my  religion.  "Now,  Lord,  please  interfere  and 
make  this  horse  obedient,  and  save  me  from  the 
necessity  of  compelling  him.  Help  me  in  this 
emergency,  for  Jesus'  sake.  Amen."  I  arose  from 
my  knees,  took  hold  of  the  lines,  and  started  the 
horse  with  a  word.  He  went  up  the  hill  will- 
ingly, and  I  gave  him  a  good  rest  on  the  summit. 
For  the  eight  miles  he  went  up  hill  and  down. 
Prayer  is  mighty,  and  does  prevail.  I  believe 
this  was  the  prayer  of  faith  which  God  ever  de- 
lights to  honor.  This  horse  had  never  worked 
alone  before. 

Late  in  August  I  attended  a  camp-meeting 
held  for  Norwich  Circuit,  I  heard  L.  L.  Hamline, 
Leroy  Swormstedt,  and  other  noted  men  of  the 
period  preach.  A  collection  was  taken  up  to  pay 
deficiencies  in  the  allowance  of  the  preachers. 
I   gave   two   or   three   times,  in   all   about    three 


88  Granvillk  Moody. 

dollars  and  fifty  cents,  all  the  money  I  had  with 
me.  In  consequence  I  and  my  horse  fasted  for 
the  day,  but  the  preaching  was  of  a  high  order, 
and  I  presume  it  did  me  all  the  more  good  for 
my  enforced  fasting, 


Admitted  into  Conference.  89 


CHAPTER  VII. 
admitted  into  conference. 

THE  sympathy  and  approval  ot  my  parents,  in 
reference  to  the  work  to  which  I  was  called, 
are  shown  by  this  joint  letter: 

Baltimore,  November  6,  1832. 
Dear  Son  Granville, — We  received  your  affec- 
tionate letter  of  the  28th  ult.,  and  were  all  pleased  to  see 
your  ardor  and  zeal  in  this  best  of  all  occupations — this 
striving  to  do  good.  We  believe  that  our  good  Lord  has, 
in  his  abundant  grace,  given  you  a  desire  to  become 
his  faithful  servant.  And  now,  my  son,  take  a  word 
or  two  of  parental  advice;  and  may  our  great  and 
good  Parent  help  us  to  give  a  word  in  season  to  you! 
You  must  surely  feel,  and  others  must  see,  your  abso- 
lute want  of  more  mature  and  better  digested  human 
learning;  and  we  have  talked  and  thought  the  matter 
through/and  come  to  the  conclusion  that  you  had  bet- 
ter spend  one  year  at  least  in  some  pious  and  re- 
spectable college  before  you  take  your  riding  habili- 
ments and  assume  that  sacred  office.  Now,  if  you 
determine  to  keep  on  in  your  present  business  till 
August  —  reading  and  studying  and  exhorting,  and 
thus  strengthening  both  talents  and  memory,  confi- 
dence and  piety — you  will  then  be  prepared  to  enter 
college,  and  there  to  make  the  most  of  your  priv- 
ileges. And  we,  by  that  time,  most  probably,  shall 
receive  another  payment  from  our  purchaser,  and 
be  thus  enabled  to  give  you  that  assistance  you  will 
need.     .     .     . 

8 


90  Granville  Moody. 

Now,  my  son,  be  assured  of  my  prayers,  and  of 
the  increasing  interest  and  affections  of  your  father, 

William  Moody. 

Baltimore,  November  7th. 

My  Dear  Child, — It  was  with  no  ordinary  feel- 
ings of  joy  and  happiness  that  I  received  your  last 
letter,  but  with  feelings  overwhelmed  with  thankful- 
ness, humility,  and  praise  to  our  covenant-keeping 
God  for  what  he  has  done  for  you.  I  trust  it  is  He 
that  has  led  your  mind  to  the  choice  of  your  future 
course  in  life.  It  is  a  great  and  glorious  work  to 
which  you  essay  to  put  your  hands ;  and  O,  that  your 
whole  heart,  soul,  and  mind  may  be  engaged  in  it, 
and  that  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  may  set  you 
apart  entirely  for  himself  and  his  cause  in  the  world, 
is  the  hearty  prayer  of  your  mother;  that  you  may 
ever  have  such  a  strong  desire  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  love  of  souls  as  will  lead  you  to  be  willing  to 
make  every  sacrifice  and  be  willing  to  spend  and  be 
spent  in  the  service  of  so  good  a  master  as  the  Lord 
Jesus,  who  saith  he  requireth  none  to  go  a  warfare 
at  his  own  charges ! 

My  dear  son,  for  more  than  twenty  years,  at  times, 
I  have  been  praying  that  God  would  condescend,  un- 
worthy as  I  am  of  such  a  blessing,  to  take  one  of  my 
sons,  if  no  more,  to  proclaim  his  glorious  gospel  to  a 
dying  world.  But  for  the  last  two  or  three  years  be- 
fore your  sister's  conversion  I  had  become  so  dis- 
couraged I  could  but  seldom  pray  with  fervency  for 
your  conversion;  but  whenever  I  saw  a  youth  stand- 
ing up  as  an  ambassador  for  Jesus,  my  mind  always 
led  me  to  beseech  God  to  remember  my  boys  for  good, 
and  take  one  of  them  to  serve  him  in  his  Church ;  and 
now  it  seems  the  Lord  is  answering  my  petitions.  O 
that  I  may  feel  humble  under  a  sense  of  his  great 


Admitted  into  Conference.  91 

goodness,  and  remember  what  God  saith,  "Not  for  your 
sake  do  I  this,  saith  the  Lord  God,  be  it  known  unto 
you,  but  for  my  great  name's  sake  and  for  my  oath's 
sake!"  for  God  hath  said  there  shall  be  a  fulfillment 
of  the  desires  of  those  that  put  their  trust  in  the 
Lord.  "  To  trust  in  the  Lord  is  better  than  to  put 
confidence  in  princes."  It  is  the  believer's  privilege 
and  duty  to  trust  in  God  at  all  times. 

You  speak  of  dark  seasons;  hard  strugglings.  Well 
you  may,  when  you  have  three  great  enemies  to  con- 
tend with;  but,  thanks  be  to  God,  more  are  they  that 
are  for  you  than  they  that  are  against  you.  Resist 
Satan,  and  he  will  flee  from  you;  live  near  to  God, 
Very  much  is  lost  of  real  happiness  by  loving  this 
world  and  the  things  of  it  too  much.  Pray  for  your 
mother,  that  she  maybe  weaned  more  and  more  from  this 
dying  world,  and  set  her  affections  on  things  above.  .  . 
Write  as  soon  as  you  have  made  up  your  mind  about 
spending  a  year  at  some  theological  seminary.  I  ad- 
vise you  to  do  it  by  all  means.  Do  n't  think  about  the 
expense.    I  shall  look  upon  it  as  money  well  laid  out.  .  .  . 

Your  brothers  and  sisters  all  desire  to  be  kindly 
remembered  to  you  all.     Your  ever  affectionate  mother, 

Harriet  Moody. 

Through  1832  I  remained  in  the  store,  study- 
ing religious  books  belonging  to  Rev.  E.  D.  Roe, 
then  keeping  store  in  Norwich,  with  whom  and 
wife  and  her  daughter,  Miss  Davenport,  I  formed 
an  interesting  and  improving  acquaintance.  He 
was  especially  a  valuable  friend  to  me,  taking  charge 
of  my  theological  studies,  loaning  me  the  standard 
Methodist  books.  I  owe  much  to  his  wise  care.  The 
daughter  subsequently  became  the  wife  of  Cyrus 
Bropks,  of  the  Ohio  Conference,  later  of  Minnesota. 


92  Granville  Moody. 

My  brother  William,  of  New  York,  was  invited 
by  brother  John  to  take  my  place  in  the  store, 
and  about  the  middle  of  August,  1833,  mY  share 
was  transferred.  I  settled  up  all  accounts ; 
and,  free  from  debt,  owning  a  horse,  saddle,  and 
bridle,  trunk,  clothing,  and  books,  I  was  prepared 
for  the  approaching  conference,  which  met  in  Cin- 
cinnati, August  21st.  I  was  received  on  trial  as 
an  itinerant  preacher,  etc.  The  first  week  in 
September  official  notice  was  sent  to  me  of  my  ap- 
pointment as  junior  preacher  on  Springfield  Cir- 
cuit, with  Joshua  Boucher  as  preacher  in  charge. 
Leaving  Norwich  on  Tuesday,  I  reached  Columbus, 
took  lodging  at  the  tavern,  and,  after  supper, 
found  my  way  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
in  charge  of  Russel  Bigelow.  Without  making 
myself  known  to  him,  I  was  all  eye  and  ear  and 
memory  for  the  occasion.  He  looked  inquisitively 
at  me ;  but,  as  we  had  never  met,  I  was  relieved 
from  any  service,  much  to  my  gratification.  He 
began  the  service  by  reading  about  ten  verses  of 
Scripture,  and  then  gave  out  a  hymn.  This  wry- 
mouthed,  one-sided  man,  with  every  physical  dis- 
advantage, was  wondrously  talented  and  accom- 
plished. He  impressed  me  as  a  man  of  rare 
abilities.  T  wonder  not  at  the  unsophisticated 
boy  who  listened  to  his  entrancing  eloquence  and 
fervent  appeals,  and  said  to  his  mother:  "What 
would  be  the  effect  if  Brother  Bigelow  could  talk 
out  of  both  sides  of  his  mouth  as  other  preach- 
ers do?" 

The  next  day  I  reached  Springfield,  and  was 


Admitted  into  Conference.  93 

hospitably  entertained  by  Brother  Bretney.  Sat- 
urday afternoon  I  started  to  South  Charleston, 
where  I  made  my  commencement  as  a  traveling 
preacher.  My  first  text  was:  "For  if,  when  we 
were  enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the 
death  of  his  Son;  much  more  being  reconciled,  we 
shall  be  saved  by  his  life.  And  not  only  so,  but 
we  also  joy  in  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
by  whom  we  have  now  received  the  atonement." 
William  H.  Raper  was  my  presiding  elder,  and  in 
him  I  found  an  abiding  friend.  I  had  a  year  of 
great  happiness. 

On  Monday  of  the  conference  session,  held  the 
next  year  (1834),  I  received  a  letter  from  my 
mother  announcing  the  death  of  my  father,  and 
requesting  my  return  temporarily.  I  was  re- 
leased and  went  by  stage  to  Baltimore,  and  found 
my  widowed  mother  bowed  down  with  this  press- 
ure of  grief.  My  father  was  ill  but  three  days, 
but  the  sudden  attack  found  him  in  a  state  of 
habitual  readiness.  He  was  graciously  prepared 
for  an  exchange  of  worlds. 

Returning  to  Springfield,  I  finished  out  the 
year  on  London  Circuit,  so  that  for  six  months 
there  were  three  preachers  ;  but  there  was  territory 
and  work  for  all  three. 

My  third  annual  appointment,  in  1835,  was  to 
McKendree  Chapel,  in  the  town  of  Fulton,  now  a 
part  of  Cincinnati.  I  went  from  Columbus  by 
stage-coach,  reaching  my  appointment  September 
14,  1835.  I  was  domiciled  at  the  residence  of 
Brother  Joseph  Herron,  a  principal  in  the  public 


94  Granville  Moody. 

schools ;  eminent  as  a  teacher,  a  friend,  and  as  an 
official  member  of  the  Church.  He  was  an  Is- 
raelite indeed,  in  whom  there  was  no  guile.  He 
was  afterward  principal  of  Herron's  Seminary,  in 
Cincinnati,  and  to  the  day  of  his  death  was  a 
noble  educator  of  youth.  His  wife,  a  Christian 
lady,  his  son  James,  and  daughter  Lucy,  made  up 
the  family.  I  boarded  with  them  the  first  of  the 
year;  and,  as  my  allowance  was  small,  Mr.  Her- 
ron  and  I  opened  a  night-school,  four  evenings  in 
the  week,  in  the  basement  of  the  church.  We 
had  a  full  and  flourishing  school,  and  the  financial 
results  were  very  satisfactory,  and  helped  me  much 
in  getting  ready  for  housekeeping  the  first  Monday 
in  May,  1836. 

On  January  19th  of  that  year  I  married  Miss 
Lucretia  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  H.  and 
Elizabeth  Harris,  at  their  home,  four  miles  east  of 
Springfield,  O.  The  marriage  ceremony  was  per- 
formed by  Joshua  Boucher.  She  was  a  holy 
woman  of  God.  Her  first  appointment  as  a  min- 
ister's wife  was  to  Fulton. 

Shortly  after  our  wedding,  my  wife,  having 
entered  upon  her  duties  in  the  Church,  found  and 
felt  her  need  of  more  grace  to  fit  her  for  the  holy 
services  of  a  minister's  wife.  She  sought,  found, 
and  professed  the  blessing  of  holiness  of  heart 
so  freely  promised  to  believers  in  Christ.  She 
meekly,  confidently,  and  joyfully  confessed  what 
grace  had  done  for  her,  and  ever  afterward  made 
the  good  confession  of  purity  of  heart  by  faith  in 
our  all-sufficient  Savior. 


Admitted  into  Conference.  95 

This  year  in  Fulton  is  redolent  in  our  memo- 
ries, having  the  odor  of  salvation  to  ourselves 
and  more  than  a  hundred  others,  who  pressed  into 
the  kingdom.  The  names  of  Hazen,  Morris, 
Smith,  Gordon,  Lithebury,  Ready,  Weeks,  Sacker, 
Lehmanowsky,  and  hundreds  of  others,  rise  from 
the  mists  of  memory.  During  this  year  I  be- 
came acquainted  with  William  Nast,  who  labored 
as  German  missionary  in  Cincinnati,  under  much 
obloquy  and  the  bitter  persecution  of  the  Roman 
Church.  As  he  patiently  wended  his  way  from 
house  to  house,  preaching  Christ  and  him  cru- 
cified, the  vilest  epithets  were  heaped  upon  him. 
After  about  a  year  he  gathered  the  nucleus  of 
a  Church.  I  transferred  to  him  Brother  and 
Sister  Sacker,  Brother  Lehmanowsky  and  wife, 
and  others,  who  became  members  of  the  first  class 
of  German  Methodists.  At  the  house  of  Amos 
Wheeler,  in  Fulton,  I  performed  the  marriage 
ceremony  between  Dr.  Nast  and  his  bride,  Miss 
Eliza  McDowell.  She  studied  German  after  their 
marriage,  and  took  her  children  to  Germany  for 
their  education  when  they  became  old  enough  for 
training. 

My  fourth  appointment  (1836)  was  Wesley 
Chapel  and  New  Street,  Cincinnati — W.  H.  Raper, 
preacher  in  charge,  and  William  B.  Christie,  pre- 
siding elder.  Wesley  Chapel  was  the  parent 
Church  in  the  city,  and  had  the  largest  building 
in  Ohio  Methodism.  I  trembled  at  my  appoint- 
ment in  view  of  my  incompetency,  but  rejoiced 
in  God  as  my  support  and   aid,  and  confided  in 


96  Granville  Moody. 

Brother  Raper  as  an  eminent  pastor  and  divine. 
We  shared  a  large  brick  house  with  L.  L.  Ham- 
line  and  wife,  with  whom  we  formed  pleasant  and 
profitable  acquaintance.  We  had  a  laborious  year, 
but  a  glorious  revival  of  religion,  and  many  scores 
were  added  to  the  Church.  I  recall  the  names 
of  Josiah  Lawrence,  Christopher  Smith,  Robert 
Richardson,  Sacker  Nelson,  N.  W.  Thomas,  Will- 
iam Neff,  James  Ewan,  Benjamin  Urner,  Benja- 
min Stewart,  Morris  Sharp,  and  William  Wood. 

The  General  Conference  was  held  in  WTesley 
Chapel,  in  May,  1836.  One  of  the  delegates, 
Orange  Scott,  had  attended  an  Abolition  meeting 
during  the  session  of  that  conference.  I  can  see 
him  walk  out  into  the  central  aisle  in  response  to 
allegations  made  against  him  and  others  for  attend- 
ing such  a  meeting  at  such  a  time.  His  defense 
made  a  deep  impression  on  me  in  favor  of  Aboli- 
tionism, and  the  speeches  of  Southern  men,  such 
as  William  Capers  and  William  Winans,  affected 
me  most  unfavorably  against  the  peculiar  institu- 
tion of  slaveholding,  as  an  obligarchy  founded  in 
wrong. 


Cincinnati. 


97 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CINCINNATI  AND  ELSEWHERE. 

"  TVT^  ^oot  °^  ^an(^  ^°  *  possess."  On  an  autumn 
-L-*  evening  of  1837  my  wife  and  self  happened 
to  be  the  guests  of  William  NefF  and  wife.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  NefF  were  of  the  excellent  of  the  earth. 
Her  name  was  Clifford,  and  she  was  a  daughter 
of  General  Wayne,  of  South  Carolina.  They  were 
among  the  wealthiest  of  the  families  in  Cincin- 
nati. We  enjoyed  their  acquaintance,  friendship, 
and  society,  and  received  many  substantial  tokens 
of  their  regard. 

On  the  evening  referred  to,  at  about  half-past 
eight  o'clock,  the  door-bell  rang  out  merrily,  and 
the  servant  announced  "Mr.  Urner."  He  was 
dusty  and  soiled,  as  he  had  just  arrived  by  public 
stage  from  Illinois,  where  he  had  spent  two  or 
three  months  as  the  head  clerk  of  Mr.  NefF,  en- 
tering government  lands  for  his  employer  in 
Champaign,  Piatt,  and  Sangamon  Counties.  The 
entry  amounted  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres 
of  the  best  land,  prairie  and  timber,  in  Illinois. 
After  a  conference  of  two  hours  in  the  back  parlor, 
Mr.  Urner  excused  himself,  and  Mr.  NefF,  enter- 
ing the  front  parlor,  smiling,  said:  "I  suppose 
you  have  been  amused  at  our  interest  in  our  re- 
cently entered  lands  ;  and  now,  Brother  Moody,  I 


98  Granville  Moody. 

will  atone  for  my  absence  this  evening  by  the  fol- 
lowing proposition  :"  I  will  sell  you  a  section — that 
is,  six  hundred  and  forty  acres — of  my  recent  pur- 
chase at  precisely  what  they  cost  me — that  is, 
one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  an  acre — not 
adding  anything  for  costs  of  entry ;  and  you  can 
take  whatever  time  you  please  to  pay  it ;  say, 
three,  six,  nine,  or  twelve  years,  with  interest 
at  six  per  cent.  I  will  take  your  mortgage  on  the 
section  you  choose ;  or,  if  you  please,  we  will 
let  Mr.  Urner  make  the  best  selection  for  you  that 
he  can.  You  can  pay  in  any  sums,  from  five 
dollars,  upward.  I  will  indorse  the  payment  on 
the  mortgage  and  send  you  a  receipt.  In  the  course 
of  seven  to  ten  years  you  can  pay  the  price  of  the 
whole  section,  and  have  an  inheritance  for  your 
old  age  which  will  be  very  valuable." 

I  thanked  him  heartily  for  his  considerate  and 
generous  offer,  and  told  him  that  we  would  con- 
sider it,  and  report  to  him  in  three  days.  "Well, 
well,"  said  he,  "you  are  welcome  to  the  section, 
and  I  will  instruct  Mr.  Urner  to  make  you  a  good 
selection."  Three  days  afterward  I  saw  Mr.  Neff, 
and  reported  our  determination  not  to  embarrass 
ourselves  with  such  an  indebtedness,  though  ap- 
preciating his  kind  and  liberal  intentions.  He  was 
much  surprised,  but  we  were  afraid  of  pecuniary 
embarrassment.  We  thought,  "out  of  debt  out 
of  danger ;"  and  a  Methodist  preacher's  allowance 
in  those  days  was  very  limited,  and  we  dreaded 
any  hindrance  to  our  ministerial  vocation.  Those 
lands  are  now  worth  from  forty  to  sixty  dollars  an 


Troy  Circuit. 


99 


acre ;  but  I  negatived  the  proposition  in  the  fear 
of  the  Lord,  lest  I  should  be  embarrassed  in  the 
work  of  the  ministry.  I  gratefully  remembered 
Brother  and  Sister  Neff  by  naming  our  daughter 
Clifford  Neff  Moody. 

In  1838  I  was  traveling  Troy  Circuit,  with 
Joshua  Boucher  as  preacher  in  charge,  and  resided 
in  Troy.  My  wife  was  on  a  visit  to  her  father, 
near  Springfield.  The  month  was  May.  On  Mon- 
day, after  dinner,  I  was  in  the  saddle  to  visit  the 
Harrises  on  Buck  Creek,  and  my  widowed  mother, 
then  living  in  Springfield.  Just  a  little  way  from 
a  turn  of  the  road  I  saw  a  group  of  two  men,  one 
woman,  and  three  or  four  girls  and  boys,  and  a 
mare  and  her  colt.  The  halter  was  in  the  hand 
of  one  of  the  men  ;  and  as  I  approached  I  heard 
loud  talk  from  the  man  who  held  the  mare  by  the 
halter,  and  earnest  talk  from  the  other  man.  As 
I  came  nearer  I  saw  the  woman,  babe  in  arms, 
wiping  her  tears,  and  heard  her  say:  "What  can 
we  do  with  our  corn-crop  if  you  take  away  the 
mare?  Why  can't  you  take  the  colt?"  "Why," 
said  the  man,  still  holding  the  halter,  "I  can't 
get  twenty-three  dollars  for  that  colt,  with  its 
crippled  shoulder.  I  am  compelled  officially  to 
take  what  I  can  make  twenty-three  dollars  out 
of;  I  could  not  get  ten  dollars  for  that  colt."  The 
woman  and  children  were  weeping ;  and  the  man, 
declaring  his  inability  to  make  his  crop  without 
the  animal,  had  tears  flow  adown  his  manly 
cheek.  I  rode  up  and  halted  in  the  ring  of  the 
assembly,   and   said:   "Why,    what  is   the  matter 


ioo  Granville  Moody. 

here  ?"  The  sheriff,  still  holding  on  to  the  halter, 
said :  "  In  due  process  of  law,  sir,  I  have  seized 
this  mare  in  legal  action  for  debt  against  this 
man,  and  he  and  his  wife  want  me  to  leave  her 
and  take  this  scrawny,  shoulder-crippled  colt  for 
the  debt.  This  would  trammel  me,  in  giving  up 
good  property  which  I  have  found  to  be  his.  Out 
of  the  sale  of  the  colt  I  could  not  realize  ten 
dollars  at  the  utmost;  and  so,  you  see,  I  would 
not  be  doing  my  duty  as  an  officer,  and  it  would 
make  me  liable  for  the  deficit.  I  can't  do  busi- 
ness in  that  way." 

I  saw  the  force  of  his  reasoning,  and  pulling 
out  my  pocket-book,  I  handed  the  officer  twenty- 
three  dollars,  and  said  to  him:  "Here's  your 
money  ;  take  that  rope  off  the  mare  and  return  her 
to  her  owner,  and  put  the  halter  on  the  colt,  and 
give  it  to  me,  and  that  will  settle  all  this  trouble, 
if  you  are  all  agreed."  The  sheriff  was  pleased, 
the  farmer  and  his  wife  were  delighted,  the  chil- 
dren were  glad,  and,  unknown  by  any  of  them,  I 
rode  off  leading  my  colt,  which  limped  along  vi- 
vaciously, and  in  an  hour  I  reached  Springfield, 
where  I  sojourned  for  the  night;  and  the  next  day 
I  went  on  to  my  father-in-law's  residence,  which 
I  reached  about  noon.  Father  Harris  and  his 
seven  sons  were  at  the  house,  and  came  out  to 
see  my  new  purchase.  They  agreed  that  I  had 
given  twice  the  value  of  him ;  and  Father  Harris 
remarked  that  as  a  charitable  operation  it  might 
do  very  well,  and  told  me  to  turn  him  into  the 
west  pasture.     My   wife    was   glad   for  the   poor 


Oxford.  ioi 

woman's  sake,  that  her  family  were  helped  along 
so  well  in  securing  the  season's  crop. 

The  colt  was  turned  into  good  pasture,  through 
which  Buck  Creek  flowed ;  and,  as  we  frequently 
visited  home  during  the  next  three  years,  we  were 
pleased  to  see  him  develop  into  a  large,  strong 
horse.  Some  three  years  after  I  was  appointed 
to  Oxford,  the  seat  of  Miami  university.  Rev. 
George  Junkin,  president  of  the  university,  ar- 
rived on  the  same  day,  a  Thursday  in  1840;  and 
we  both  began  services  the  same  Sabbath.  I  first 
hitched  the  colt  up  to  an  old-fashioned  gig,  for 
which  I  had  traded  L.  L.  Hamline  a  modern-built 
sulky.  The  young  horse  worked  right  along  to 
the  gig,  in  which  wife  and  I  and  baby  Clifford 
made  our  debut  into  Oxford.  We  were  hospita- 
ably  entertained  by  that  prince  of  hospitality,  Mr. 
Townsend  Payton,  whose  hospitable  home  and 
wife  and  sons  and  daughters  were  the  representa- 
tives of  old  Virginia  manners  and  of  old  Virginia 
hospitality,  which  I  never  afterward  saw  excelled 
in  all  my  varied  experience. 

That  year  and  the  next  were  replete  with  re- 
vival interest.  Scores  and  hundreds  were  added 
to  the  Church.  Two  young  men,  sons  of  an 
elderly  farmer,  were  added  to  the  Church  in  the 
winter  of  1840.  They  gave  satisfactory  evidence 
of  their  being  born  of  the  Spirit.  The  following 
spring  they  both  took  sick,  and  the  elder  died  in 
the  triumphs  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  The 
younger  lingered  long,  but  recovered.  I  visited 
them   in   their  sickness   regularly,   and   preached 


102  Granville  Moody. 

the  funeral  sermon  of  the  one  that  died.  One 
day  in  May  I  visited  the  family  during  the  con- 
valescence of  the  surviving  son,  and  after  din- 
ner and  prayer  with  the  family,  the  gentleman 
said :  u  Brother  Moody,  let  us  go  to  visit  a  sick 
man  in  the  neighborhood,  who  will  die,  I  fear, 
without  religion."  I  bade  the  family  "good-bye;" 
and  on  the  way  to  the  stable  the  brother  said  : 
"  Brother  Moody,  I  and  my  family  feel  greatly  in- 
debted to  you  for  your  labors  with  our  sons  and 
with  ourselves,  and  especially  for  your  influence 
over  our  deceased  son.  I  wish  to  give  you  a 
token  of  our  gratitude  for  your  faithfulness  with 
our  sons,  resulting  in  their  happy  conversion — 
and  one  of  them  is  in  heaven  now.  I  have  no- 
ticed that  you  are  ill  mounted ;  the  horse  you  ride 
is  not  a  good  saddle-horse  at  all.  He  is  a  rough 
farm-horse,  and  rides  clumsily.  I  have,  I  sup- 
pose, the  best  horse  in  this  county,  five  years  old, 
a  dappled  gray  of  high  blood,  splendid  action,  as 
good  under  the  saddle  as  he  is  superior  in  harness, 
and  high  spirited.  I  sold  him  to  my  son-in-law 
for  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  the  next 
day  I  took  his  money  back  to  him  and  told  him  I 
could  not  part  with  Black  Hawk  for  money,  and 
must  have  him  back.  The  horse-buyers  have  been 
after  me  many  times  to  get  him,  but  I  have  re- 
fused them.  And  now  I  want  you  to  have  this 
horse.  I  will  put  your  saddle  on  my  horse,  and 
you  take  him  and  welcome,  as  a  free  gift.  I  will 
keep  your  horse,  and  you  need  not  tell  anybody 
how  we  traded ;  and,  if  you  should  ever  want  to 


Oxford. 


io3 


trade  back,  just  bring  Black  Hawk  and  take 
yours  away." 

I  could  hardly  believe  my  eyes  or  ears.  I 
said  to  myself:  "This  is  the  Lord's  doing;  it  is 
marvelous  in  our  eyes.  Here  God  has  returned 
the  twenty-three  dollars  I  gave  for  the  colt  more 
than  seven-fold ;  yes,  more  than  ten  times  over 
has  the  Lord  reimbursed  me  for  the  relief  I  gave 
that  poor  family  the  day  that  I  bought  their  ^colt. 
Amen  !  Ebenezer  !  hallelujah !  Do  minus  provide- 
bit!"  I  went  to  see  the  sick  man  with  my  friend, 
and  rode  to  Oxford  delightfully,  hitched  the  new 
horse  to  my  gig,  and  drove  down  the  street. 
Many  who  knew  the  horse  and  horseman,  too, 
came  out  and  asked  me :  "  Where  did  you  get 
that  horse?  That  is  the  best  horse  in  Butler 
County." 

While  I  was  pastor  of  the  Church  in  Oxford, 
I  learned  that  a  debate  on  "  Universalism  "  was  to 
take  place  in  Cincinnati  between  Rev.  Dr.  Rice, 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Pin- 
gree,  editor  of  the  Universalist  paper,  the  Star  in 
the  West.  I  started  on  Monday  morning  with  my 
wife  and  Clifford,  who  was  then  about  ten  months 
old.  We  went  seven  miles  over  a  dirt  road,  on 
which  there  had  been  heavy  rains.  My  horse  and 
gig  were  very  muddy,  and  so  I  concluded  to  ford 
the  Miami  River  instead  of  going  over  on  the 
bridge.  I  met  a  man,  who  assured  me  that  the 
river  was  perfectly  fordable,  and  directed  me  to  go 
straight  across  above  the  bridge. 

I  entered  the  swollen  stream  and,  within  three 


104  Granville  Moody. 

rods  from  the  shore,  the  water  was  over  the  horse's 
neck,  and  he  swimming ;  the  gig  was  submerged 
up  to  my  waistcoat  pockets ;  my  wife  was  hold- 
ing the  baby  above  the  water.  The  wild  flood  of 
waters  was  proudly  sweeping  downward;  our 
trunk  of  clothing  was  in  the  water.  "  Steady, 
Black  Hawk!  steady !  steady !"  so  my  voice 
cheered  the  noble  horse  as  he  rolled  in  the 
surging  flood,  snorting  defiance  to  its  current. 
"  Steady,  Black  Hawk  !  steady,  my  boy  !"  Circling 
up  stream  he  breasted  the  turn,  passed  the  critical 
point,  and  safely  landed  us  at  the  place  where  we 
entered.  He  struggled  like  a  modern  Bucephalus  ; 
all  I  could  see  of  him  while  in  the  wrathful  cur- 
rent was  his  head  and  half  of  his  stretched-out 
neck.  As  he  came  out  on  dry  land  I  jumped  out 
of  the  gig,  and  hugged  and  caressed  the  noble 
animal  that  had  just  saved  us  from  a  watery  grave. 
There  sat  my  wife,  pale  as  death.  She  was  clasp- 
ing little  Clifford,  who,  with  her,  had  lately  escaped 
such  imminent  danger.  I  thanked  God  for  his 
help  in  this  emergency.  I  thanked  Black  Hawk 
for  his  gallant  conduct  in  this  unexpected  struggle 
where  life  or  death  was  the  stake.  As  he  stood 
wave-washed,  I  gazed  on  his  every  muscle,  so  lately 
strained  to  their  utmost  to  save  me  and  my  family 
from  the  overwhelming  flood.  I  gloried  in  his 
strength  and  sagacity  and  suasibility  and  quick- 
ened sense  in  the  presence  of  danger.  I  after- 
ward sold  him  to  Rev.  William  Simmons,  and 
thus  four  years  were  added  to  his  "ministerial 
life,"  under  a  presiding  elder. 


Ripley  District.  105 

While  I  was  stationed  at  McKendree  Chapel 
I  became  acquainted  with  a  noble  Methodist  man 
named  Vanaken  Wunder.  He  was  a  butcher  by 
trade,  and  a  worthy  and  influential  member  of 
Wesley  Chapel.  I  received  from  him  many  tokens 
of  kindly  regard.  This  good-will  had  its  con- 
tinued growth  for  forty  years  and  was  perpetuated 
in  his  family  in  their  generations.  During  my 
pastorate  in  York  Street,  Cincinnati,  in  1872-3,  I 
became  acquainted  with  the  sister-in-law  of  Mr. 
Vanaken  Wunder,  Jr.  She  was  an  invalid.  I 
visited  her  during  a  protracted  illness,  and  led  her 
to  Christ,  in  whom  she  believed  to  the  saving  of 
her  soul.  She  finally  died  in  peace,  and  hope, 
and  Christian  joy.  I  preached  her  funeral  sermon, 
and  attended  her  burial. 

At  the  close  of  this  pastorate  in  1873,  I  was 
appointed  presiding  elder  of  Ripley  District. 
Peculiar  circumstances  made  me  impecunious  at 
this  time,  and  I  found  it  difficult  to  furnish 
myself  with  the  equipments  necessary  for  a  pre- 
siding elder.  I  had  procured  a  nearly  new  buggy 
and  harness ;  but  was  as  yet  destitute  of  a  suitable 
horse.  Whilst  ruminating  lugubriously,  and  per- 
chance saying,  "A  horse,  a  horse!  my  kingdom 
for  a  horse  !"  we  unexpectedly  received  an  invita- 
tion to  spend  the  evening  with  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wunder.  We  accepted  the  invitation  with  thanks, 
and  worked  away  packing  up  our  household  stuff, 
with  many  a  sidelong  glance  into  the  immediate 
future,  which  had  for  us  no  ray  of  light  for  a 
horse,  nor   indeed    any   prospect   of   means   with 


106  Granville  Moody. 

which  to  purchase  one.  Evening  came,  and  wife 
and  I  locked  up  our  house,  and  wearily  went  our 
way  to  Mr.  Wunder's.  We  found  his  wife  and 
their  bright  boy,  about  eight  years  old,  attentive, 
and  bent  on  making  us  feel  free  and  entirely  at 
home.  In  about  an  hour,  Mr.  Wunder  appeared 
in  full  dress,  reminding  me  of  an  aldermanic 
Englishman  at  home.  Indeed,  he  was  a  Cincinnati 
alderman.  We  were  elegantly  entertained,  and  at 
his  well-filled  table,  which  gave  signs  of  all  good 
cheer  in  variety  and  abundance,  we  enjoyed  true 
hospitality.  Our  hard  day's  work  in  packing 
furniture  gave  an  edge  to  our  appetite,  and  his 
cheerful  company,  and  his  quiet  wife's  gentle 
manners,  and  their  evident  good-will  to  us,  en- 
hanced the  happiness  of  the  occasion. 

After  supper  I  asked  him  if  we  should  engage 
in  religious  service.  He  responded,  "Yes,"  and 
laid  his  large  Bible  on  the  stand.  I  read  a 
chapter,  sang  a  hymn,  and  led  in  prayer,  and  in- 
voked on  him  and  his  God's  blessing,  while  we 
renewed  the  consecration  of  ourselves  to  God.  At 
the  close  of  worship  he  and  she  left  the  room, 
and  wife  and  I  and  the  beautiful  boy  had  every- 
thing our  own  way.  On  their  return  he  began 
conversation  by  inquiring  how  and  when  we 
would  go  to  our  new  field  of  labor.  I  replied 
that  we  would  leave  Cincinnati,  at  four  P.  M.  next 
day  on  the  steamer  Fleetwood,  and  reach  Ripley 
the  same  evening.  He  said  that  he  knew  all 
abotit  my  district,  having  bought  and  driven  from 
all  parts  of  it,  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs,  and  added : 


Ripley  District.  107 

"You  will  need  a  first-rate  horse  to  carry  you  on 
that  large  district.  I  have,"  he  went  on,  ua  first- 
rate,  full  blood  mare  of  the  Morgan  breed,  good  in 
harness,  and  a  remarkable  animal  under  the 
saddle.  She  is  five  years  old,  large,  and  very 
active.  If  you  will  accept  her  as  a  present,  I  will 
find  great  pleasure  in  presenting  her  to  you,  and 
all  the  more  gratefully  in  view  of  your  kind  atten- 
tions as  pastor  and  minister  to  my  wife's  deceased 
sister,  for  which  we  feel  truly  grateful.  The  horse 
is  in  pasture  a  mile  back  of  Covington.  If  you 
will  take  her  I  will  have  her  brought  to  the 
Fleetwood,  and  you  can  use  her  next  Saturday  to 
go  to  your  first  appointment." 

I  was  perfectly  surprised,  and  entirely  relieved 
by  such  unexpected  good-will.  I  had  not  said  a 
word  about  my  perplexities  in  the  matter  of  a 
horse,  nor  did  Mr.  Wunder  know  of  my  neces- 
sities. But  God  knew  all,  and  relieved,  and 
opened  an  effectual  door  for  my  deliverance.  I 
thanked  my  benefactor,  with  tears  in  my  eyes. 
His  wife  shared  his  joy,  and  seemed  to  enjoy  our 
surprise  and  gratitude. 

For  four  successive  years  this  animal  never 
missed  an  appointment.  With  me  she  shared  all 
the  labors  of  travel,  always  on  time,  always  ready, 
always  willing.  She  endeared  herself  to  me  and 
mine.  If  there  is  a  future  for  animals,  I  shall  be 
glad  to  meet  Nelly  there. 


io8  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

UNIVERSALISM. 

"He  who  of  old  would  rend  the  oak, 
Dreamed  not  of  the  rebound." 

"Tl  7HILB  I  was  pastor  of  Miami  Circuit,  in 
"  1839,  with  Levi  P.  Miller  as  my  colleague, 
I  resided  in  Montgomery,  O.,  in  the  mansion  of 
Hon.  Alexander  Duncan,  who  was  absent  most 
of  the  year  in  Washington,  being  a  member  of 
Congress. 

I  had  many  conflicts  with  the  Universalists,  of 
whom  there  was  a  large  number  on  the  circuit ; 
also  many  debates  with  the  Baptists.  One  Sab- 
bath I  preached,  six  miles  south-west  of  West 
Chester,  a  sermon  which  occupied  two  hours,  on 
the  subjects  and  mode  of  baptism.  Repairing  to 
the  house  of  a  brother,  I  requested  the  family  not 
to  prepare  dinner  for  me,  as  I  should  be  late  for 
my  appointment  at  West  Chester  if  I  waited  for 
a  regular  dinner,  but  to  give  me  two  bowls  of  the 
morning's  milk,  and  to  give  my  horse  a  gallon  of 
oats.  I  was  soon  through  with  my  dinner  and  in 
saddle,  with  a  lively  headway.  As  I  approached 
the  village  I  saw  a  triplet  of  horsemen  bounding 
toward  me,  and  we  soon  met.  They  proved  to  be 
two  brothers  Conrey,  and  another  member  of  the 
West    Chester    society.     They    reined    up    their 


Universalism.  109 

panting  steeds  and  said:  "Brother  Moody,  there 
is  the  utmost  excitement  in  West  Chester.  The 
town  is  all  alive,  and  everybody  is  astir  and 
anxious  for  you  to  come.  We  were  advised  to 
ride  and  notify  you  that  the  notable  Robert  Smith, 
the  great  Universalist  preacher,  is  in  town,  and 
preached  a  powerful  Universalist  sermon  this 
morning ;  and  at  its  close  he  said :  '  I  learn  that 
Rev.  Granville  Moody  is  to  preach  in  this  town  at 
half  past  two  o'clock,  P.  M.,  to-day.  He  has  much 
to  say  throughout  this  county  against  Universal- 
ism,  I  am  informed.  He  knows  me.  He  attended 
a  debate  I  had  with  a  Campbellite  preacher  in 
Sharonville,  south  of  here.  I  will  now  prophesy 
that  he  will  not  open  his  mouth  against  Univer- 
salism  in  any  way  in  my  presence ;  but  will,  when 
he  sees  me  in  the  audience,  be  "as  mild  as  a  suck- 
ing dove,"  and  will  preach  on  some  theme  that 
will  lead  him  far  away  from  Universalism.  He 
knows  me  too  well  to  venture  one  sentence, 
directly  or  indirectly,  against  Universalism.  Just 
meet  me  this  afternoon,  and  see  that  he  will  not 
attack  this  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  His 
craft  will  be  to  preach  on  some  biographic  or 
historic  subject,  and  Universalism  will  not  be 
assailed.  He  will  not  touch  it  with  tongue  or 
tongs.  I  know  him  well,  and  Universalism  will 
go  scot-free  to-day.  I  shall  take  a  seat  directly  in 
front  of  him,  and  when  he  sees  me  he  will  be  as 
mum  as  a  mouse.  Come  to  the  Methodist  Church 
this  afternoon,  and  see  if  I  am  not  a  prophet.'" 
I  replied  to  the  brethren  that  I  had  preached 


no  Granville  Moody. 

over  two  hours  on  baptism  that  morning,  and  felt 
too  much  exhausted  to  preach  at  any  length,  and 
would  just  notice  him  politely  and  invite  him  to 
debate  the  next  Tuesday  morning  at  ten  o'clock. 
They  objected  that  it  was  harvest-time,  and  that 
everybody  would  be  busy  during  the  week,  and 
that  what  was  done  must  be  done  that  afternoon. 
I  again  pleaded  my  exhaustion  after  the  excessive 
labors  of  the  morning,  and  said  I  would  explain 
all,  and  that  we  could  have  the  debate  early  in 
the  fall.  They  said  that  now  is  the  accepted 
time  ;  and  if  for  any  reason  I  did  not  then  reply, 
the  result  would  be  disastrous.  I  told  them  that 
we  preachers  must  sit  together  in  the  pulpit ;  that 
Brother  Conrey  must  pray,  and  that  we  should  see 
what  we  should  see  in  the  outcome. 

We  went  to  the  church,  and  lo !  each  window 
was  entirely  cleared  of  both  sashes,  the  house  was 
packed  full  of  people,  and  a  crowd  surrounded 
the  house  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  it  was 
actually  with  difficulty  that  we  could  reach  the 
pulpit.  Within  six  feet  of  it  sat  the  Universalist 
preacher,  large  and  portly,  and  as  brave  as  any 
man.  His  morning  sermon  and  personal  notice 
of  me'as  a  preacher  had  excited  the  two  Churches, 
Methodist  and  Presbyterian,  and  had  gathered 
nearly  the  town  and  township  for  the  occasion. 
I  had  not  yet  determined  to  notice  him,  but  knelt 
down  for  private  prayer  and  said,  "Lord,  what 
wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  I  received  a  short, 
sharp,  encouraging  response  that  seemed  like 
three  definitive  sentences  :   "I  am  with  you  always ; 


Universalism.  Ill 

fear  not.  Open  thy  mouth  ;  I  will  fill  it."  I  re- 
sponded :    "  Bbenezer  !     Hallelujah  !" 

I  arose  with  fearless  heart  and  whispered  to 
Brother  Conrey  :  "You  pray.  I  will  attack  him." 
To  the  congregation  I  said :  "  Let  us  pray.  Brother 
Conrey  will  be  our  mouth  to  God."  And  such  an 
agonizing  prayer  as  that  man  uttered !  It  was 
devout,  appropriate,  fervent,  effectual,  and  availed 
much.  I  recollect  some  petitions:  uBe  with  our 
youthful  pastor  this  day.  May  he  lay  off  Saul's 
armor,  and,  with  five  smooth  stones  from  Siloa's 
brook,  may  he  successfully  attack  this  modern 
Goliath  of  Gath.  Clear  his  eye  and  nerve  his 
arm,  and  may  the  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of 
Gideon  do  wondrous  execution  here  to-day.  Blow 
out  the  false  alluring  lights  of  hell,  that  voyagers 
on  this  rocky  reef  may  keep  aloof  from  the  mael- 
strom and  coast  of  perdition,  and  cross  the  Pacific 
Ocean  of  gospel  grace,  and  land  on  the  far-off, 
flowery  shore,  where  the  Captain  of  our  salvation 
receives  believing  men  to  the  Eden  of  love." 

The  people  were  carried  away  from  formalism, 
and  Baptists,  Lutherans,  and  Presbyterians  joined 
in  long  and  loud  amens  with  Methodists.  I  then 
requested  the  congregation  to  unite  in  sacred  song, 
and  announced  an  appropriate  hymn.  I  laid  the 
Bible  on  the  side  of  the  pulpit  and  remarked 
that  the  subject  of  the  present  discourse  would 
not  be  found  in  these  lively  oracles  divine  ;  but 
would  be  found  in  the  Apocrypha  of  Robert 
Smith,  who  in  this  morning's  sermon  declared 
that  Mr.  Moody  would  not  dare  to  say  one  word 


ii2  Granville  Moody. 

against  Universalism  in  his  presence.  Shades  of 
the  mighty  heretics  of  ancient  and  modern  times, 
well  may  ye  stand  aghast  in  such  a  presence  as 
Robert  Smith  !  In  his  peerless  presence  language 
is  impotent.  But  who,  and  what  of  this  mighty 
man  of  renowu  ?  Alas !  he  is  but  one  of  the 
fifteen  hundred  millions  of  our  apostate  race. 
There  were  myriads  before  him,  and  myriads 
beside  him,  and  myriads  shall  succeed  him.  Who 
is  he?  But  one  of  the  fallen  race  of  Adam, 
whose  inherited  humanity  has  been  degraded  by 
the  man  "whose  guilty  fall  corrupts  his  race,  and 
taints  us  all." 

The  sermon  was  mainly  a  presentation  of  the 
statements  of  Scripture  concerning  the  future  life, 
with  the  conclusion  that  necessarily  follows ;  the 
denunciations  of  God  against  sin,  from  that  of  the 
angels  which  kept  not  their  first  estate  to  that  of 
the  last  apostate  soul  of  Adam's  race.  No  words 
can  be  coined  more  explicit  than  those  of  Christ, 
when  he  refers  to  the  awards  of  the  great  day: 
"  These  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment, 
but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal." 

O  Universalism,  how  have  your  abettors  ram- 
bled ruthlessly  away  from  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus !  It  is  the  new  edition  of  Satan's  earliest 
lie,  uttered  to  Adam  and  Eve,  for  their  unbelief, 
and  by  this  false  statement  removed  them  from 
their  first  estate,  and  brought  death  into  the  world 
and  all  our  woe  as  well.  "Ye  shall  not  surely 
die,"  is  still  the  arch-deceiver's  lie. 

The  attention  of  the  audience  was  unflagging 


Universalism.  113 

throughout  all  the  discourse.  I  felt  a  conscious- 
ness of  divine  approval,  and  that  I  was  helped  in 
presenting  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  A  divine 
unction  was  upon  me,  and  I  spoke  in  demonstra- 
tion of  the  Spirit  and  with  power  from  on  high. 
I  believe  reverently  that  God  was  present,  giving 
testimony  to  the  words  of  truth  and  soberness.  I 
spoke  as  a  dying  man  to  dying  men. 

I  invited  Mr.  Smith  to  reply ;  but  he  declined 
on  account  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  nor  could 
he  meet  me  in  debate  on  Tuesday ;  and  having  a 
ministerial  engagement  at  a  distance,  he  could  not 
say  when  he  could  reply  to  the  discourse  he  had 
just  heard. 

I  served  the  remaining  months  till  conference, 
when  I  was  appointed  to  Oxford.  At  this  place 
I  met  Mr.  Smith,  about  two  months  after  getting 
settled.  He  drove  up  to  the  parsonage  door,  and 
was  fastening  his  horse  when  I  saw  and  recog- 
nized him.  I  said  to  my  wife:  " Lizzie!  there  is 
that  Universalist  preacher  I  preached  against  in 
West  Chester.  I  suspect  he  has  come  to  have  a 
debate  with  me  here.  But  it  is  well;  'let  the 
hardest  fend  off.'  "  I  went  out  to  him  and  shook 
hands,  walked  into  the  parsonage  with  him,  and 
introduced  him  to  my  wife.  He  thanked  me  for 
my  kind  and  faithful  treatment  of  him  at  the  time 
I  preached  against  him,  and  for  my  successful 
attack  on  Universalism.  "Yes,  sir,"  he  said, 
"that  sermon  was  the  most  puissant  assault  that 
I  had  ever  met  during  all  the  years  of  my  life  as 
a  Universalist  preacher.     You   carried   your  line 


ii4  Granville  Moody. 

of  argument  triumphantly  over  the  basal  ranges 
of  Universalism  as  I  had  never  heard  it  done 
before,  and  I  met  a  Waterloo  defeat,  such  as  I  had 
never  expected  to  meet.  When  you  concluded  I 
was  defeated,  horse,  foot,  and  dragoon.  I  have 
renounced  Universalism,  and  came  to  see  you 
to-day  to  ask  you,  as  a  favor,  that  you  give  me  the 
outlines  of  that  argument,  which  I  wish  to  put 
into  a  book  I  am  publishing  on  the  grounds  of 
my  change  of  opinions."  I  told  him  I  had  not  a 
single  line  of  all  I  said  that  day  on  Universalism. 
I  had  almost  concluded  not  to  say  one  word  that 
afternoon  on  the  subject  of  Universalism  ;  but  my 
irresolution  vanished  on  hearing  that  powerful 
prayer  of  Brother  Conrey.  He  said  he  remem- 
bered that  prayer,  that  it  was  the  key-note  of  suc- 
cess. I  added :  "  Well,  I  made  up  my  mind  to 
attack  Universalism  while  I  was  on  my  knees  in 
private  prayer.  The  whole  affair  was  extempora- 
neous ;  your  request  for  a  copy  is  an  impossibility, 
I  had  not  one  written  line,  and  it  vanished  with 
the  breath  that  gave  it  birth.  I  have  not  a  frag- 
ment of  that  sermon  to  hand  you." 

He  said  he  had  held  scores  of  debates,  East  and 
West,  but  had  never  had  such  an  attack  as  that. 
He  united  with  the  followers  of  Alexander  Camp- 
bell. I  replied  to  the  surprise  he  manifested  on 
being  told  that  the  discourse  was  extemporaneous : 

"If  you  shall  speak  or  preach  extempore, 
You  may  be  less  correct,  but  much  more  free ; 
New  thoughts  will  spring  up  as  you  pass  along, 
And  honest  zeal  for  many  faults  atone." 


At  Oxford.  115 


CHAPTER  X. 

AT  OXFORD. 

ABOUT  the  third  Thursday  in  September, 
1840,  I  came  to  the  pastorate  of  Oxford  Sta- 
tion. President  George  Junkin  was  elected  a 
few  months  previously  to  Miami  University,  and 
reached  Oxford  the  same  day  that  I  did.  He 
preached  his  first  sermon  at  the  Associate  Re- 
formed Church,  of  which  Mr.  Claybaugh  was  pas- 
tor, the  ensuing  Sabbath  afternoon.  A  notice  of  the 
service,  with  invitation  to  attend  Dr.  Junkin's  ini- 
tiatory service,  was  furnished  to  the  Methodist,  and, 
we  presume,  to  all  the  Churches  in  Oxford.  I  gave 
out  the  notice  with  pleasure,  and  urged  all  our 
congregation  to  go  and  hear  the  Doctor's  sermon 
at  half-past  two  P.  M. 

I  went  at  the  hour,  finding  a  densely  crowded 
audience,  but  succeeded  in  getting  a  sitting 
in  the  third  pew  from  the  door.  Dr.  Junkin 
had  the  unenviable  sobriquet  of  "  Heresy  Hun- 
ter," and  he  signalized  his  debut  on  this  occasion 
by  an^onslaught  on  Methodism.  "I  saw,"  he  said, 
"diagonally  opposite  this  building  a  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  where,  I  presume,  the  doctrines 
of  John  Wesley  are  dispensed  itinerantly,  and  you 
will  hear  the  possibility  and  danger  of  a  child  of 
God  backsliding,  and  so  becoming  a  child  of  Satan ; 


n6  Granville  Moody. 

an  heir  of  grace  and  glory  losing  both  by  back- 
sliding ;  a  child  of  God  and  an  heir  of  glory  laps- 
ing into  the  character  and  condition  and  doom  of 
an  apostate ;  a  regenerated  man  liable  to  final  and 
fatal  degeneration  !  No,  my  dear  friends,  we  have 
not  so  learned  Christ  nor  Christianity.  Neither 
the  craft  nor  malice  of  Satan  and  all  his  hosts  is 
able  to  pluck  a  sonl  away  from  Christ,  nor  drive 
saints  to  their  undoing.  But  such  crudities  in 
logic  and  theology  will  have  their  day.  In  pass- 
ing through  your  noble  State  I  spent  a  day  or  two 
in  its  capital,  and  was  pleased  to  notice  the  ample 
provision  made  for  the  infirm  in  mind." 

I  restrained  my  feelings  till  the  close  of  the 
meeting,  and  just  as  the  terminal  words  of  the 
benediction  were  uttered,  I  stepped  out  into  the 
aisle  and  said:  "  Dr.  Junkin,  I  invite  you  and  this 
audience  to  the  Methodist  Church,  in  this  place, 
to  hear  my  reply  to  the  attack  at  this  hour  on  its 
well-known  theological  tenets,  the  possibility  and 
danger  of  a  saint's  total  apostasy  from  a  state  of 
grace.  As  Paul  saith  :  '  Take  heed,  brethren,  lest 
there  be  in  any  of  you  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief, 
in  departing  from  the  living  God ;  for  we  are 
made  partakers  of  Christ  if  we  hold  the  beginning 
of  our  confidence  steadfast  to  the  end.'  This 
Sabbath  evening,  if  you  please,  Dr.  Junkin,  and 
this  audience." 

I  went  to  my  study,  having  told  my  wife  to  ex- 
cuse me  to  all  callers,  and  at  half-past  six  P.  M.  to 
have  a  cup  of  tea  and  some  toast  ready  for  me. 
What  an  afternoon  was  that  of  devout  and  confid- 


At  Oxford.  117 

ing  prayer  for  divine  direction  and  illumination  and 
aid!  I  prayed:  "O  Lord,  give  me  a  text  and  di- 
vine direction.  Lay  thine  hand  upon  me,  so  that, 
speaking,  I  may  speak  only  as  the  oracles  of  God." 
The  text  I  selected  was  Colossians  i,  19-23:  "For 
it  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all  full- 
ness dwell ;  and,  having  made  peace  through  the 
blood  of  his  cross,  by  him  to  reconcile  all  things 
unto  himself;  by  him,  I  say,  whether  they  be 
things  in  earth  or  things  in  heaven.  And  you, 
that  were  sometime  alienated  and  enemies  in  your 
mind  by  wicked  works,  yet  now  hath  he  reconciled 
in  the  body  of  his  flesh  through  death,  to  present 
you  holy  and  unblamable  and  unreprovable  in 
his  sight :  if  ye  continue  in  the  faith  grounded 
and  settled,  and  be  not  moved  away  from  the 
hope  of  the  gospel,  which  ye  have  heard,  and 
which  was  preached  to  every  creature  which 
is  under  heaven ;  whereof  I  Paul  am  made  a 
minister." 

The  excitement  in  the  town  was  intense.  It 
was  a  bland  and  moonlit  evening.  The  weather 
was  favorable.  The  brethren  were  all  alert  for 
the  general  accommodation.  They  took  all  the 
bottom  and  top  windows  out  of  the  frames,  so 
that  the  people  could  better  see  and  hear.  By 
preaching-time  the  house  was  completely  filled, 
and  a  multitude  outside,  double  that  within,  had 
assembled  to  hear  the  young  preacher  against  the 
old  war-horse  on  the  topic  of  Wesleyan  versus 
Calvinistic  theology. 

The  devotional  services  having  been  completed, 


n8  Granville  Moody. 

I  proceeded  from  the  foregoing  text  to  present  the 
gospel  themes  stated : 

First.  All  fullness  for  saving  purposes  is  found 
in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Second.  Believers  are  to  be  presented  holy  and 
unblamable  in  his  sight. 

Third.  The  gravamen  specified :  "  If  ye  con- 
tinue in  the  faith,  grounded  and  settled,  and  be 
not  moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the  gospel"  as 
preached  by  the  apostle. 

The  labor  of  the  evening  was  bestowed  upon 
the  third  division  of  the  subject :  i.  Continuance  in 
the  faith  required  as  the  condition  of  success ; 
2.  Not  being  moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the  gos- 
pel enjoined ;  3.  The  possibility  of  total  and  final 
apostasy  to  perdition ;  or  the  danger  of  total  relin- 
quishment of  religion  by  a  final  departure  from 
the  living  God. 

This  last  was  the  case  with  the  apostatizing 
angels ;  they  departed  from  the  living  God  by 
sinning.  Jude  adduces  this  apostasy  as  our  warn- 
ing: "And  the  angels  which  kept  not  their  first 
estate,  but  left  their  own  habitation,  he  hath  re- 
served in  everlasting  chains  under  darkness,  unto 
the  judgment  of  the  great  day  ;"  and  that  judg- 
ment is  to  a  ruin  complete  and  eternal.  "De- 
part from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire  pre- 
pared for  the  devil  and  his  angels,"  is  the  doom 
of  the  condemned  of  earth.  These  once  holy 
angels  sinned  against  God  during  their  proba- 
tionary state,  and  were  cast  out  of  heaven  under 
the  abiding  and  withering  curse  of  a   sin-hating 


At  Oxford.  119 

God.  Their  first  estate  was  a  holy  one.  They,  in 
common  with  all  the  angelic  hosts,  were  limited 
in  their  locomotion,  and  by  the  fiat  of  Jehovah 
were  confined  to  their  specified' apartments  as  the 
test  of  their  obedience.  The  command  was, 
"Thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther."  God 
was  pleased  to  put  these  lofty  beings,  with  aston- 
ishing powers  of  locomotion,  on  the  bounds. 
"Stay  here,"  he  said,  "nor  cross  those  lines  into 
the  circumjacent  regions,  till  I  see  fit  to  give  you 
the  bounds  of  the  universe  for  the  range  of  your 
curiosity  and  adventure,  as  your  reward.  Your 
submission  to  this,  my  limitation,  shall  be  the  test 
of  your  submission  to  my  rightful  sovereignty." 
Lucifer,  the  son  of  the  morning,  at  length  ques- 
tioned the  right  of  such  restriction  :  "What !  must 
we  be  cabined,  cribbed,  confined  to  these  diminu- 
tive restrictions,  and  limited  to  these  domains  of 
restricted  commerce  ?  What  harm  can  come  from 
the  unlimited  use  of  these  bright  wings  of  ours? 
'Tis  blank  and  purblind  abuse  of  our  rights  to  in- 
terpose with  such  tyranny,  and  expect  our  blind 
obedience  to  his  fiat.  And  see  afar  what  shining 
zones  and  starry  scenes ;  and  see  yon  bright  forms 
of  light  and  beauty ;  and  list,  ay,  listen  to  their  songs 
of  rapturous  joy,  transcending  ours  afar.  I  am 
going."  A  spirit  of  wild  disregard  for  God  sprang 
up,  and  spread  along  the  hosts,  till  one-third  of  the 
number  joined  in  the  dread  revolt.  A  mighty  mul- 
titude against  the  supremacy  of  heaven ;  angels 
who  kept  not  their  first  estate,  but  left  their  own 
habitation. 


120  Granville  Moody. 

This  is  the  inspired  record  of  that  great  apos- 
tasy ;  and  we  have  the  warrant  of  the  Word  of  in- 
spiration to  cite  these  backsliding  angels  as  a 
warning  against  the  crime  of  high-handed  apos- 
tates. I  but  follow  the  practice  of  inspiration  in 
adducing  this  instance  of  apostasy  from  God  and 
holiness  and  heaven.  This  obedience  to  God  was 
the  ground  of  the  election  of  that  portion  of  the 
angels  known  as  "the  elect  angels,"  referred  to 
by  Paul  when  he  said  to  Timothy:  "I  charge 
thee,  before  God  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  elect  angels,  that  thou  observe  these  things." 

We  see  this  doctrine  in  2  Chronicles  xv,  2  : 
"The  Lord  is  with  you,  while  ye  be  with  him; 
and  if  ye  seek  him  he  will  be  found  of  you ;  but 
if  ye  forsake  him,  he  will  forsake  you."  We  hear 
David  in  his  adress  to  Solomon  say:  "And  thou, 
Solomon  my  son,  know  thou  the  God  of  thy 
father,  and  serve  him  with  a  perfect  heart  and 
with  a  willing  mind  ;  for  the  Lord  searcheth  all 
hearts,  and  understandeth  all  the  imaginations  of 
the  thoughts  ;  if  thou  seek  him,  he  will  be  found 
of  thee ;  but  if  thou  forsake  him,  he  will  cast  thee 
off  for  ever."  In  Ezekiel  xviii,  24-26:  "But 
when  the  righteous  man  turneth  away  from  his 
righteousness,  and  committeth  iniquity,  and  doeth 
according  to  all  the  abominations  that  the  wicked 
man  doeth,  shall  he  live?  All  his  righteous- 
ness that  he  hath  done  shall  not  be  mentioned ; 
in  his  trespass  that  he  hath  trespassed,  and  in  his 
sin  that  he  hath  sinned,  in  them  shall  he  die. 
Yet  ye  say,  The  way  of   the   Lord  is  not  equal. 


At  Oxford.  121 

Hear  now,  O  house  of  Israel,  Is  not  my  way 
equal  ?  are  not  your  ways  unequal  ?  When  a 
righteous  man  turneth  away  from  his  righteous- 
ness, and  committeth  iniquity,  and  dieth  in  them ; 
for  his  iniquity  that  he  hath  done  shall  he  die." 
In  the  thirtieth  verse:  "Therefore  will  I  judge 
you,  O  house  of  Israel,  every  one  according  to  his 
ways,  saith  the  Lord  God.  Repent  and  turn 
yourselves  from  all  your  transgressions,  so  iniquity 
shall  not  be  your  ruin."  Verse  32  :  "  For  I  have  no 
pleasure  in  the  death  of  him  that  dieth,  saith  the 
Lord  God ;  wherefore  turn  yourselves  and  live." 

In  Matthew  v,  13,  Christ  says  of  his  own 
peculiar  people:  "Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth; 
but  if  the  salt  have  lost  his  savor,  wherewith  shall 
it  be  salted?  it  is  thenceforth  good  for  nothing, 
but  to  be  cast  out,  and  to  be  trodden  under  the 
foot  of  men."  Thus  salt  may  lose  its  saltness, 
and  then  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted  again?  It 
is  to  be  cast  out.  Maundrell,  the  traveler,  speaks 
of  vast  beds  and  ridges  and  jetties  of  rock-salt, 
that  had  become  sharply  crystallized ;  but  had  lost 
the  last  vestige  of  saline  qualities,  and  were  good 
for  nothing  but  to  be  cast  out  on  slippery  places, 
in  icy  times  to  be  trodden  under  feet  of  men,  to 
keep  them  from  falling.  Christ  knew  of  no  means 
of  restoring  the  saltness.  We  may  say  by  Christ's 
authority  as  Mr.  Wesley  does  in  the  hymn : 


"Ah!  Lord,  with  trembling  I  confess, 
A  gracious  soul  may  fall  from  grace; 
The  salt  may  lose  its  seasoning  power, 
And  never,  never  find  it  more. 


122  Granville  Moody. 

Lest  that  my  fearful  state  may  be, 
Each  moment  knit  my  soul  to  thee; 
And  lead  me  to  the  mount  above, 
Through  the  low  vale  of  humble  love." 

In  Matthew  xviii,  we  find  the  instructive 
histories  of  the  debtor  who  owed  ten  thousand 
talents,  but  whose  compassionate  creditor,  when 
the  debtor  owned  the  debt,  loosed  him  and  for- 
gave him  the  debt.  This  same  pardoned  debtor 
went  out  and  laid  hands  on  his  fellow-servant,  who 
owed  him  one  hundred  pence,  and  took  him  by  the 
throat,  saying:  "Pay  me  that  thou  owest.  And 
his  fellow-servant  said,  Have  patience  with  me, 
and  I  will  pay  thee  all.  And  he  would  not;  but 
went  and  cast  him  into  prison,  till  he  should  pay 
the  debt.  So  when  his  fellow-servants  saw  what 
was  done,  they  were  very  sorry,  and  came  and  told 
unto  their  lord  all  that  was  done.  Then  his  lord, 
after  that  he  had  called  him,  said  unto  him,  .  .  . 
I  forgave  thee  all  that  debt,  .  .  .  shouldest  not 
thou  also  have  had  compassion  on  thy  fellow- 
servant,  even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee  ?  And  his  lord 
was  wroth,  and  delivered  him  to  the  tormentors, 
till  he  should  pay  all  that  was  due  unto  him.  So 
likewise  shall  my  heavenly  Father  do  also  unto  you, 
if  ye  from  your  hearts  forgive  not  every  one  his 
brother  his  trespasses."  Our  moral  debt  is  legally 
due,  but  graciously  remitted  ;  but  when  we  act 
unbecomingly,  the  rightful  claim  is  justly  as  well 
as  legally  due,  and  we  will  be  delivered  to  the 
tormentors,  till  we  shall  pay  all.  Thus  our  gra- 
cious pardon  will  be  revoked   if  our  subsequent 


At  Oxford.  123 

conduct  to  our  debtors  be  at  variance  with  the 
forgiving  spirit  that  had  released  us. 

Final  apostasy  is  possible ;  for  a  man  forgiven, 
renewed,  and  adopted,  may  fall  away,  come  into 
condemnation  again,  and  die  therein,  and  thus 
become  a  castaway, — 1  Corinthians,  ix,  27  :  "  But  I 
keep  my  body  under,  and  bring  it  into  subjection ; 
lest  that  by  any  means,  when  I  have  preached  to 
others,  I  myself  should  be  a  castaway."  Thus 
Saint  Paul  declared  the  danger  of  total  and  final 
apostasy  from  Christ  in  his  own  case ;  and  if 
apostasy  was  possible  to  him,  surely  it  is  to  us 
also.  In  2  Peter  ii,  21  :  "For  it  had  been  better 
for  them  not  to  have  known  the  way  of  righteous- 
ness, than,  after  they  had  known  it,  to  turn  from 
the  holy  commandment  delivered  unto  them." 

Thus  we  find  Ezekiel,  Paul,  and  Peter,  all 
agreeing  in  terms  unequivocal  and  definite  to  the 
possibility  and  danger  of  total  and  final  apostasy 
from  Christ.  "Therefore,  let  him  that  thinketh  he 
standeth,  take  heed  lest  he  fall." 

The  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is,  as  a  whole, 
an  inspired  argument  and  warning  against  the 
lapse  of  real  Christians  from  their  state  in  grace 
to  an  apostasy,  complete  and  final,  from  Christ 
and  Christianity.  The  epistle  teaches  that  real 
Christians  may  renounce  Christ  and  the  hopes  of 
Christianity,  and  measure  back  their  steps  to  the 
broad  road  that  leads  to  destruction.  In  chapter 
vi,  4-6,  it  is  written:  "For  it  is  impossible  for 
those  who  were  once  enlightened,  and  have  tasted 
of  the  heavenly  gift,  and  were  made  partakers  of 


124  Granville  Moody. 

the  Holy  Ghost,  and  have  tasted  the  good  word  of 
God,  and  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  and 
have  fallen  away,  to  renew  them  again  unto  re- 
pentance ;  seeing  they  crucify  to  themselves  the 
Son  of  God  afresh,  and  put  him  to  an  open  shame." 
Dr.  McKnight,  a  celebrated  Calvinistic  commen- 
tator, gives  this  rendering  in  the  sixth  verse, 
boldly  affirming  that  there  is  no  "if"  in  the  origi- 
nal, and  that  the  English  should  appear,  "and 
have  fallen  away." 

"He  that  despised  Moses'  law  died  without 
mercy  under  two  or  three  witnesses  ;  of  how  much 
sorer  punishment,  suppose  ye,  shall  he  be  thought 
worthy,  who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of 
God,  and  hath  counted  the  blood  of  the  covenant, 
wherewith  he  was  sanctified,  an  unholy  thing,  and 
hath  done  despite  unto  the  Spirit  of  grace  ?  .  .  . 
It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
living  God."  "Now  the  just  shall  live  by  faith, 
but  if  any  man  draw  back,  my  soul  shall  have  no 
pleasure  in  him.  But  we  are  not  of  them  that 
draw  back  unto  perdition,  but  of  them  that  be- 
lieve to  the  saving  of  the  soul."  "Looking  dili- 
gently lest  any  man  fail  of  the  grace  of  God ; 
lest  any  root  of  bitterness  springing  up  trouble 
you,  and  thereby  many  be  defiled."  "  See  that  ye 
refuse  not  him  that  speaketh.  For  if  they  escaped 
not  who  refused  him  that  spake  on  earth,  much 
more  shall  not  we  escape,  if  we  turn  away  from 
him  that  speaketh  from  heaven :  .  .  .  where- 
fore we  receiving  a  kingdom  which  can  not  be 
moved,  let  us  have  grace,  whereby  we  may  serve 


At  Oxford.  125 

God  acceptably,  with  reverence  and  godly  fear; 
for  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire." 

Peter  (Second  Epistle  i,  9)  saith:  "But  he  that 
lacketh  these  things  is  blind,  and  can  not  see  afar 
off,  and  hath  forgotten  that  he  was  purged  from 
his  old  sins;"  and  ii,  20,  21  :  "For  if,  after  they 
have  escaped  the  pollutions  of  the  world  through 
the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus 
Christ,  they  are  again  entangled  therein,  and  over- 
come, the  latter  end  is  worse  with  them  than  the 
beginning.  For  it  had  been  better  for  them  not 
to  have  known  the  way  of  righteousness,  than, 
after  they  have  known  it,  to  turn  from  the  holy 
commandment  delivered  unto  them."  In  chapter 
iii,  17:  "Ye  therefore,  beloved,  seeing  ye  know 
these  things  before,  beware  lest  ye  also,  being  led 
away  with  the  error  of  the  wicked,  fall  from  your 
own  steadfastness."  Thus  plainly  does  inspired 
Peter  teach  the  doctrine  and  the  facts  of  apostasy 
from  Christ  in  the  most  positive  manner.  In  vain 
does  an  uninspired  man  deny  the  danger  of  a 
saint's  apostasy  from  Christ,  with  these  plain 
declarations  of  the  Bible. 

John,  in  his  Second  Epistle,  eighth  verse,  saith 
to  the  elect  lady  and  her  children,  whom  he  loved 
in  the  truth:  "Look  to  yourselves,  that  we  lose 
not  those  things  which  we  have  wrought,  but  that 
we  receive  a  full  reward."  So  there  was  danger 
of  losing  the  religion  they  had.  In  the  final 
utterances  of  Jesus  Christ  in  Revelation,  he  de- 
clares :  "And  if  any  man  shall  take  away  from  the 
words   of  the  book  of  this   prophecy,  God   shall 


126  Granville  Moody. 

take  away  his  part  out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  out 
of  the  holy  city,  and  from  the  things  which  are 
written  in  this  book.  He  which  justifieth,  saith, 
Surely  I  come  quickly.  Amen.  Even  so,  come, 
Eord  Jesus." 

This  sermon,  delivered  promptly  in  the  even- 
ing of  the  day  on  which  Dr.  Junkin  made  his 
ruthless  attack  on  Methodism,  had  its  designed 
effect  in  Oxford,  and  was  followed  by  successive 
sermons  from  the  Methodist  pulpit  for  the  ensu- 
ing two  years.  The  Calvinists  were  alarmed  and 
aroused  as  never  known  to  be  before,  and  every 
pulpit  in  the  town  was  alive  with  polemic  the- 
ology, and  the  young  students  shared  in  the  gen- 
eral excitement. 

On  Saturday  forenoon  I  went  to  the  post-office, 
and  had  to  wait  for  the  distribution  of  a  large 
mail.  Scores  of  students  were  assembled  there, 
and  the  faculty  of  the  college  were  generally 
present.  Mr.  William  Y.  Patton,  of  Mississippi,  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
a  student  in  the  senior  class  of  the  university, 
was  in  the  company.  Addressing  one  of  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  university,  he  said :  "  Professor, 
please  re-state  your  argument  from  the  foreknowl- 
edge of  God,  which  you  used  before  the  class 
yesterday  morning,  to  Brother  Moody."  The  pro- 
fessor seemed  reluctant,  but  Mr.  Patton  insisted  ; 
and  there,  in  the  presence  of  two  hundred  or  three 
hundred  persons,  a  debate  commenced,  which 
lasted  till  nearly  twelve  o'clock,  noon.  He  in- 
sisted  that  Calvinism  was  not  rightly  presented, 


At  Oxford.  127 

and  I  quoted:  "By  the  decree  of  God,  for  the 
manifestation  of  his  glory,  some  men  and  angels 
are  predestined  to  everlasting  life,  and  others 
foreordained  to  everlasting  death.  Those  angels 
and  men,  thus  predestinated  and  foreordained,  are 
particularly  and  unchangeably  designed,  and  their 
number  is  so  certain  and  definite  that  it  can  not 
be  either  increased  or  diminished.  Those  of  man- 
kind that  are  predestinated  unto  life,  God,  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world  was  laid,  according 
to  his  eternal  and  immutable  purpose,  and  the 
secret  counsel  and  good  pleasure  of  his  will,  hath 
chosen  in  Christ  unto  everlasting  glory,  out  of  his 
own  free  grace  and  love,  without  any  foresight  of 
faith  or  good  works,  or  perseverance  in  either 
of  them  or  any  other  thing  in  the  creature,  as 
conditions  or  causes  moving  him  thereunto ;  and 
all  to  the  praise  of  his  glorious  grace.  As  God 
hath  appointed  the  elect  unto  glory,  so  hath  he 
foreordained  all  the  means  thereunto.  Where- 
fore they  who  are  elected,  being  fallen  in  Adam, 
are  redeemed  by  Christ,  are  effectually  called  unto 
faith  in  Christ,  by  his  Spirit  working  in  due  season, 
are  justified,  adopted,  sanctified,  and  kept  by  his 
power,  through  faith  unto  salvation.  Neither  are 
any  other  redeemed  by  Christ,  effectually  called, 
justified,  adopted,  sanctified,  and  saved,  but  the 
elect  only.', 

The  professor  affected  to  be  horrified  at  these 
quotations,  denied  that  the  Confession  of  Faith 
contained  any  such  statements,  charged  it  to  our 
ignorance  or  prejudice  that  we  imputed  such  doc- 


128  Granville  Moody. 

trines  to  them.  I  instantly  requested  Mr.  Patten 
to  go  to  President  Junkin  and  get  a  Confession  of 
Faith.  Being  fleet  of  foot,  he  went  to  the  college 
and  brought  from  President  Junkin  the  book.  We 
selected  a  committee  of  reference,  composed  of 
Lawyer  Mayo  and  two  others,  to  whom  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith  was  committed,  and,  after  stating 
my  quotation,  I  turned  to  the  well-known  article, 
and  found  that  my  recollection  of  it  was  perfect, 
and  called  the  attention  of  the  committee  to  it, 
and  they  fully  agreed,  and  stated  that  I  had  ex- 
actly quoted  said  article,  word  for  word,  and  to  the 
confusion  of  Calvinism,  and  to  the  triumph  of 
truth.  My  victory  was  complete  and  positive,  and 
the  effect  was  glorious. 

The  Presbyterians  then  sent  off,  and  bought  a 
large  box  of  "  Annan's  Difficulties  of  Arminian 
Methodism,"  and  circulated  them.  I  then  pub- 
lished an  edition  of  five  hundred  copies  of  the 
"  Dagon  of  Calvinism,"  which  wrought  effectually 
in  favor  of  the  truth. 

In  the  United  States  there  are  about  fifty  sects 
which  profess  to  take  the  Bible  as  a  sufficient 
rule  of  faith  and  practice.  Those  called  Protest- 
ants are  about  equally  divided  into  Calvinists  and 
Free-willers.  Both  systems  of  doctrine  held  by 
them  were  formulated  and  adopted  about  the 
time  of  the  Reformation.  Since  that  time  there  has 
been  but  little  progress  in  theological  knowledge 
except  as  expressed,  from  time  to  time,  by  numer- 
ous secessions  from  old  bodies,  and  the  adoption 
of  reformed  creeds.     These  new  movements,  which 


At  Oxford. 


129 


are  the  foot-prints  of  progress,  have  been  invariably 
denounced  by  the  adherents  of  old  ideas  as  heret- 
ical, dangerous,  and  soul-destroying,  but  were,  in 
fact,  the  means  of  preserving  and  perpetuating  the 
Christian  religion  upon  the  earth.  Luther,  born  in 
1483,  Calvin  in  1509,  Arminius  in  1560,  debated 
these  subjects  fully.  However,  the  doctrines  bear- 
ing the  names  of  Arminianism  and  Calvinism  di- 
vided men  hundreds  of  years  before  Calvin  or  Ar- 
minius existed. 

Fatalism  and  predestination,  considered  in  their 
alleged  effects  on  man's  will  and  action,  are  sub- 
stantially the  same  thing.  Aristotle,  who  died  five 
hundred  years  before  Christ's  incarnation,  taught 
the  doctrine  of  fatalism.  The  Pharisees  were 
mainly  predestinarians.  Mohammed  taught  his 
disciplest  he  same  doctrine  ;  namely,  that  whatso- 
ever happens  in  this  life  was  predestined  and 
irrevocably  fixed  by  the  Supreme  Power.  This 
doctrine,  as  applied  to  the  Christian  system  by 
John  Calvin,  is  as  follows  :  "  Predestination  we  call 
the  eternal  decree  of  God,  by  which  he  hath  de- 
termined, in  himself,  what  he  would  have  be- 
come of  every  individual  of  mankind.  For  they 
are  not  all  created  with  a  similar  destiny ;  but 
eternal  life  is  foreordained  for  some,  and  eternal 
damnation  for  others.  Every  man,  therefore, 
being  created  for  one  or  the  other  of  these  ends, 
we  say  he  is  predestined  either  to  life  or  death." 
Again,  in  speaking  of  total  depravity,  inherited 
from  Adam,  and  our  accountability,  he  says: 
"  Nevertheless  we  derive  from  Adam  not  only  the 


i3° 


Granville  Moody. 


punishment,  but  also  the  pollution  of  sin,  to  which 
punishment  is  justly  due." 

Of  the  five  points  of  Calvinism,  as  adopted  by 
the  Synod  of  Dort,  an  expounder  says  :  "  Election 
is  the  immutable  purpose  of  God,  by  which,  be- 
fore the  foundations  of  the  earth  were  laid,  God 
chose  out  of  the  whole  human  race  a  certain  num- 
ber of  men,  neither  better  nor  worse  than  others, 
to  salvation  in  Christ,  whom  he  had,  even  from 
eternity,  constituted  head  of  all  the  elect."  After 
paying  an  eloquent  tribute  to  the  sufficiency  of 
Christ's  atonement,  to  expiate  the  sin  of  the  whole, 
this  commentator  observes:  "God  willed  that 
Christ,  through  the  blood  of  the  cross,  should  ef- 
ficiently redeem  all  those,  and  those  only,  who 
were  from  all  eternity  chosen  to  salvation  ;"  "  God 
does  not  take  away  his  Spirit  wholly  from  his 
own  elect,  even  in  lamentable  falls  ;  nor  permits 
them  to  decline  from  the  grace  of  adoption  and 
justification. " 

The  foregoing  are  the  peculiar  doctrines  of 
those  Christians  known  as  Calvinists,  and,  no 
doubt,  they  are  theoretically  and  honestly  enter- 
tained ;  but,  viewed  from  a  practical  stand-point, 
it  is  certain  nobody  believes  them,  simply  because 
such  ideas  are  not  practical.  If  the  elect  fall 
into  sin,  as  is  admitted,  like  reprobates  or  com- 
mon sinners,  no  one  can  possibly  tell  who  those 
predestined  to  eternal  life  are.  Further,  men,  by 
virtue  of  their  natural  and  moral  instincts,  gen- 
erally take  a  very  hopeful  view  of  their  own 
chances   of   heaven    through    the    Divine   mercy. 


At  Oxford.  131 

All  have  noticed  how  hopeful  parents  are  of  the 
salvation  of  their  own  families  or  relatives,  even 
when  in  death  they  left  no  proof  of  having  found 
Christ.  Possibly  some  might  allow  that  their 
neighbors  or  neighbors'  children  had  gone  to  hell 
as  predestinated  reprobates,  but  they  have  not  the 
slightest  notion  of  making  their  own  bed  in  that 
horrible  place,  nor  of  assigning  their  own  families 
to  the  pit! 

Neither  do  Calvinists  act  on  that  principle  in 
their  daily  conduct  and  dealing  with  their  fellow- 
men.  They  feel  and  confess  by  their  acts  that 
they  are  responsible  to  God  and  the  laws  of  so- 
ciety for  their  voluntary  acts  of  right  and  wrong. 
They  seldom,  if  ever,  set  up  the  plea  in  extenuation 
of  their  misdoings  that  God  predestinated  them 
from  all  eternity ;  therefore,  but  few  ever  believed 
Calvinism  in  a  practical  sense. 

John  Calvin  did  not  believe  it.  Michael  Ser- 
vetus,  the  Antitrinitarian,  was  born  in  1500  A.  D. 
His  rejection  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  greatly 
incensed  the  Papists  and  Calvinists.  He  escaped 
the  vengeance  of  the  priests  of  Rome ;  but  the  Cal- 
vinists caught  him  passing  through  Geneva,  and 
burnt  him  alive,  on  the  27th  of  November,  1553. 
Calvin  was  then  supreme  at  Geneva,  and  his  sec- 
retary drew  up  the  charges  and  appeared  as  the 
principal  witness.  Now,  if  Calvin  had  believed 
his  own  doctrine,  he  never  could  have  given  his 
consent  to  the  burning  of  Servetus  as  a  heretic, 
when  it  had  been  predestinated  from  all  eternity 
that  he  should  be  such. 


132  Granville  Moody. 

In  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America,  containing  the 
"  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Catechisms,  and  the 
Directory  for  the  Worship  of  God,"  you  may  find 
the  following,  and  you  may  easily  discern  the  fur- 
ther points  of  difference  between  Methodism  and 
Calvinism  : 

uGod,  from  all  eternity,  did,  by  the  most  wise 
and  holy  counsel  of  his  own  will,  freely  and  un- 
changeably ordain  whatsoever  comes  to  pass,  yet 
so  as  thereby  neither  is  God  the  author  of  sin, 
nor  is  violence  offered  to  the  will  of  the  creature, 
nor  is  the  liberty  or  contingency  of  second  causes 
taken  away,  but  rather  established.  Although 
God  knows  whatsoever  may  or  can  come  to  pass 
upon  all  supposed  conditions,  yet  he  hath  not  de- 
creed anything,  because  he  foresaw  it  as  future,  or 
as  that  which  could  come  to  pass  upon  such  condi- 
tions." Having  disposed  of  the  elect,  the  language 
proceeds  :  "  The  rest  of  mankind  God  was  pleased, 
according  to  the  unsearchable  counsel  of  his  own 
will,  whereby  he  extendeth  or  withholdeth  mercy 
as  he  pleaseth,  for  the  glory  of  his  soverign  power 
over  his  creatures,  to  pass  by,  and  to  ordain  them 
to  dishonor  and  wrath  for  their  sin,  to  the  praise 
of  his  glorious  justice. 

Every  minister  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
before  being  licensed  to  preach,  every  ruling  elder 
and  every  deacon  before  entering  upon  the  duties 
of  his  office,  is  required  to  give  an  affirmative  an- 
swer to  the  following,  among  other  questions: 
"  Do  you  sincerely  receive  and  adopt  the  Confes- 


At  Oxford.  133 

sion  of  Faith  of  tins  Church,  as  containing  the 
system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  ?" 
The  foregoing  statements  of  distinctive  doc- 
trine may  be  safely  set  down  as  the  peculiar  doc- 
trine of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  These  are  not 
the  doctrines  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ; 
this  is  plain  and  positive  and  well  known.  We 
preach  a  free,  a  full,  an  increasing  and  abounding 
and  attested  salvation  to  every  son  and  daughter 
of  fallen  Adam,  through  the  second  Adam,  who 
is  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 


134  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

INCIDENTS  IN  ITINERANT  LIFE. 

IT  was  the  rule  at  Wesley  Chapel,  Cincinnati, 
when  I  was  stationed  there,  for  one  of  the 
pastors  to  be  present  in  the  Church  office  from  nine 
A.  M.  to  eleven  A.  M.,  to  attend  on  calls.  One 
morning  a  shrewd  old  negro,  named  Job  Dundee, 
called  in  and  sat  awhile.  He  was  a  remarkable 
man,  and  a  power  in  the  Church.  I  said  to  him : 
"Uncle  Job,  how  came  you  to  be  a  Methodist 
Christian?"  "Well,  sar,"  said  he,  "I'll  tell  you. 
You  see  I  bought  a  forty-acre  lot  of  land  down 
the  river  here,  and  I  put  up  a  smart  log-cabin,  and 
cleared  about  thirty  acres.  I  had  a  ten-acre  field 
left,  which  I  kept  for  a  hog-lot,  as  it  was  nearly 
covered  with  heavy  hickory  and  oak  and  beech 
trees.  I  kept  my  hogs  there,  and  in  the  fall  I 
would  cut  up  my  corn  in  the  stalk,  and  throw  it 
over  the  fence,  and  the  hogs  would  eat  stalks 
and  all  ;  and  they  would  ravage  among  the  pea- 
vines  ;  the  nuts  would  fall  from  the  trees,  and 
they  would  eat  up  the  fallen  acorns  and  nuts ;  and 
with  this  variety  of  feed,  if  you  ever  saw  hogs 
grow,  mine  did.  One  beautiful  Sabbath  morning 
I  went  out  to  see  my  hogs,  and  they  were  busy, 
and  I  was  counting  how  much  they  would  average 
me  by  killing-time,  about  Christmas.     I  averaged 


Incidents  in  Itinerant  Life.         135 

them  at  about  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  pounds 
a  head.  As  I  sat  and  watched  them,  I  noticed 
they  never  once  looked  up  to  the  trees  to  see 
where  their  feed  came  from,  but  kept  their  heads 
and  eyes  down  on  the  ground ;  and  presently 
something  said  to  me:  'Job  Dundee,  ain't  you 
just  like  them  'ar  stupid  swine  out  yander?  You 
have  been  eating  and  drinking  and  roaming  and 
sleeping,  and  never  once  looked  up  to  heaven,  and 
to  your  great  and  gracious  God,  to  see  where  your 
blessings  came  from.  Just  like  them  stupid  hogs, 
you  live  on  God's  goodness ;  but  you  never  look 
up  to  your  Father  in  heaven  to  think  where  your 
daily  blessings  come  from.  I  remember  a  hymn 
which  says : 

*  Fools  never  lift  their  thoughts  so  high; 
Like  brutes  they  live,  like  brutes  they  die.' 

"Conviction  of  sin  came,  and  conviction  that 
I  more  resembled  the  stupid,  willful,  rooting  hog 
than  a  man  made  in  the  image  of  God.  I  felt 
humbled  and  alarmed,  and  convinced  of  sin,  and 
especially  of  ingratitude.  I  seemed  to  hear  a 
voice  saying :  '  The  ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and 
the  ass  his  master's  crib ;  but  Israel  doth  not 
know,  my  people  doth  not  consider.'  'By  God  we 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being,  and  it  is 
reasonable  and  right  that  we  should  live  to  Him 
by  whom  we  live.' 

"My  mind  condemned  me,  my  conscience 
accused  me.  I  got  down  off  the  fence,  and  down 
by  the  lowest  rail  I  bowed  myself  before  God 
that    blessed     Sabbath    morning,    and     felt     and 


136  Granville  Moody. 

acknowledged  my  badness  of  heart,  and  selfish  con- 
dition, and  guiltiness  before  him  in  whom  we  live. 
I  bewailed  my  stupidity  and  swinishness,  that  had 
made  me,  like  the  hog,  to  go  with  my  eyes  on  the 
earth,  in  search  of  earthly  good,  while  forgetting 
God,  my  Maker.  I  saw  myself  as  I  had  never 
seen  myself  before.  I  repented  of  all  my  sins, 
asked  forgiveness  for  Jesus'  sake  ;  I  looked  up,  and 
was  forgiven.  I  became  a  new  creature ;  old 
things  had  passed  away ;  behold !  all  things  had 
become  new.  I  had  a  new  God ;  a  new  hope ;  a 
new  rule  of  life  ;  a  new  class  of  feelings.  I  found 
a  new  way ;  and  for  more  than  thirty  years  I  have 
lived  on  the  heavenly  manna.  I  love  the  ever- 
living  God,  in  whom  and  to  whom  I  live." 

During  this  narration  his  whole  body  was  in 
motion  with  his  soul.  His  dark  countenance  was 
all  aglow  with  celestial  light.  Tears  of  joy 
mingled  with  his  enraptured  speech,  and  I  greatly 
enjoyed  the  recital  of  his  transition  from  his 
natural  state.  He  went  away  rejoicing  in  hope 
of  the  glory  of  God.  He  has  passed  away,  to  join 
the  general  assembly  and  Church  of  the  first-born, 
whose  names  are  written  in  heaven. 

During  my  second  pastorate  in  Fulton,  in  1844, 
a  strange  occurrence  took  place.  My  wife's  long 
and  severe  illness  required  me  to  go  to  several 
strange  places.  One  of  these  was  a  bakery  on  the 
corner  of  Fifth  and  Sycamore  Streets,  with  a  door 
opening  into  each  street.  By  direction  of  our 
family  physician  I  went  to  this  bakery  for  Boston 
crackers.     Whilst    standing    at    the   counter,  Dr. 


Incidents  in  Itinerant  Life.         137 

Strickland  was  standing  in  the  area  of  the  room. 
Having  made  my  purchase,  as  we  went  to  the 
door  he  told  me  that  a  lady  stopped  and  looked 
at  me  intently,  then  went  around  to  the  other 
door  and  looked  earnestly  again,  as  if  she  were 
acquainted  and  wanted  to  speak  to  me.  "  There 
she  goes  up  Sycamore  Street,"  said  he,  pointing 
to  her.  "That  is  she,  dressed  in  black;  she  has 
stopped  and  is  looking  back  at  you.  She  seems 
to  know  you.     She  is  coming  back." 

By  this  time  she  approached  near  enough  to 
speak,  and  asked  me  if  I  was  a  preacher ;  and  if 
I  preached  in  a  brick  church,  with  an  elevated 
causeway  at  the  end  of  the  church,  by  which  the 
congregation  enter  and  retire  from  it.  Had  the 
church  one  center  aisle,  with  large  pews  on  the 
right  and  left  ?  Was  the  pulpit  shaped  like  a 
half-circle,  with  a  large  altar  surrounding  it?  Did 
you  have  a  great  revival  meeting  last  winter,  and 
have  many  joined  your  Church  ?  I  answered  her 
affirmatively,  telling  her  we  had  between  one 
hundred  and  two  hundred  unite  with  Church 
during  the  meeting. 

She  then  asked  me  what  business  I  had  in  that 
corner  bakery,  where  liquors  were  sold.  I  ex- 
plained that  they  baked  the  best  bread  of  that 
kind  in  the  city,  and  that,  by  direction  of  my  family 
physician,  I  was  there  making  my  purchase. 
Then  she  said:  uYou  are  the  very  man  I  have 
looked  for  in  every  pulpit  in  this  city  for  three 
months ;  bnt  I  have  sought  in  vain,  till  I  hap- 
pened to  see  you  standing  at  the  counter  of  this 

12 


138  Granville  Moody. 

coffee-house-bakery,  and  I  could  not  account  for 
your  being  in  such  a  place  after  seeing  you  stand  in 
the  pulpit  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  and  leading 
so  many  into  the  way  of  God.  O,  it  is  you,  sir, 
that  I  saw  in  the  long  brick  church,  preaching 
Christ  Jesus  the  Lord. 

"  I  was  asking  for  the  true  and  right  ways  of 
the  Lord.  I  searched  the  Bible.  I  went  to  hear 
the  different  preachers  preach.  I  prayed  for  God 
to  guide  me  aright,  but  all  was  in  vain.  I  took 
sick  and  lay  for  three  or  four  weeks,  and  then 
died,  and  was  conveyed  to  that  holy,  happy  place 
called  heaven,  where  I  saw  Christ  enthroned  in 
glory  unseen  on  earth.  I  approached  the  throne 
of  grace  and  glory,  and  God  in  Christ  spoke  in 
peace  to  me,  and  said:  'You  must  stay  here  a 
short  time,  and  then  return  to  earth,  and  tell  some 
of  the  things  you  have  seen  and  heard  here,  and 
some  things  you  must  be  silent  about,  of  which 
you  will  be  warned  by  the  Holy  Spirit.'  I  re- 
mained in  heaven  about  two  days,  seeing  and 
hearing  much  about  Emmanuel  and  the  nature  and 
mysteries  of  the  kingdom,  in  words  unlawful  to  be 
uttered  upon  earth.  At  this  time  I  asked  my 
angelic  conductor :  (  Who,  in  yonder  world,  called 
earth,  is  preaching  the  truth?  for  there  are  so 
many  kinds  of  preachers  and  various  kinds  of 
gospel;  who  is  right?' 

"  And  the  angel  said :  c  Let  us  go  to  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Lord,  and  he  will  tell  us  all  about 
it,  if  it  is  best  and  right  for  you  to  know.'  So 
we   approached    the    throne,  and    my    conductor 


Incidents  in  Itinerant  Life.  139 

stated  my  wish,  and  the  Lord,  with  a  benignant 
smile,  said  :  '  Go  with  her  to  earth,  and  let  her 
hear  the  gospel  preached  in  its  purity  and  fullness, 
and  return  here  to  join  the   chorus  of  the  skies.' 

"  The  angel  guide  bowed  in  reverence,  as  I 
also  did,  and  we  departed ;  and,  with  speed  un- 
known before,  we  came  into  the  atmosphere  of 
earth,  and  approached  a  lighted  city,  and  went  by 
a  stream  of  water,  and  came  to  a  place  where  a 
great  hill  spread  back  from  a  beautiful  river.  We 
sped  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  went  down 
a  causeway  and  along  a  narrow  bridge,  and  en- 
tered the  gable  end  of  a  house  crowded  with  people, 
and  there  in  the  pulpit,  you,  sir,  stood  and  preached 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  You  then  urged  your 
hearers  to  come  to  Jesus,  with  the  prayer  of  pen- 
itence to  obtain  mercy  and  find  grace  to  help 
in  every  time  of  need.  You  then  asked  the  Church 
to  sing,  and  invited  mourners  to  the  altar,  and 
they  came  by  scores — men,  women,  and  children, 
young  and  old — and  knelt  and  prayed,  and  ago- 
nized with  God  in  prayer. 

"  You  then  declared  that  the  happy  gates  of  gos- 
pel grace  stand  open,  free  and  wide,  and  urged 
every  one  to  part  with  Satan  and  his  sins,  and 
avouch  the  Lord  to  be  his  God.  The  people 
rushed  forward  and  joined  the  Church,  and  sealed 
themselves  unto  the  Lord,  and  were  graciously  re- 
ceived, and  sealed  with  baptisms  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"  It  was  now  late  in  the  evening.  The  congre- 
gation was  dismissed,  chiefly  with  solemn,  smiling 
faces.     My  angel    conductor    and    I    returned    to 


140  Granville  Moody. 

heaven  to  relate  what  we  had  seen  and  heard,  and 
there  was  joy  in  heaven  over  the  tidings  of  souls 
renewed  and  sins  forgiven.  Now,  I  have  told 
you  all  that  happened  at  your  Church  that  night ; 
are  these  things  so  ?" 

I  replied :  "  Madam,  yes,  they  are.  We  have 
enjoyed  multiplied  seasons  of  like  precious  and 
abounding  grace.  I  will  give  you  directions  how 
to  find  our  church.  I  want  you  to  come  up  next 
Sabbath,  and  see  if  you  can  recognize  the  place  of 
worship."  I  then  wrote  on  a  card  a  description 
of  the  way,  and  invited  the  woman  to  come  at 
nine  o'clock  and  attend  class-meeting,  and  then, 
at  half  past  ten  o'clock  A.  M.,  hear  me  preach. 

Next  Sabbath  morning  I  was  watching  for  her, 
and  went  down  street  to  meet  her.  She  met  me 
with  a  solemn  smile,  saying :  "I  was  here  before. 
These  are  the  very  steps  we  went  down  the  side- 
hill.  There  is  the  causeway  to  the  gable-end  of 
the  church  ;  there  is  the  doorway  we  passed  into 
the  church."  When  I  opened  the  church-door, 
the  woman  stopped,  saying :  "  This  is  the  very 
place  we  came  to ;  there  is  the  half-round  pulpit, 
the  central  aisle ;  all  is  exactly  as  I  told  you  when 
I  saw  you  in  Cincinnati  at  the  bakery  with  Dr. 
Strickland." 

We  went  to  the  parsonage,  then  to  the  church, 
then  home  to  dinner,  and  talked  the  whole  matter 
over  with  wonder,  love,  and  praise.  The  woman's 
husband  had  objected  to  the  burial  of  her  body 
when  she  was  supposed  to  be  dead,  on  account 
of  its  remaining  warmth  ;  and   after  an  apparent 


Incidents  in  Itinerant  Life.         141' 

absence  of  her  soul  from  it  for  two  or  three  days, 
she  came  out  of  her  trance,  and  related  the  oc- 
currences to  me  and  to  Dr.  Strickland,  who  was 
as  much  surprised  as  I  was  myself  at  these  details. 

In  September,  1866,  I  was  appointed  pastor  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Ripley,  Ohio. 
I  arrived,  was  settled,  and  began  pastoral  work  by 
the  middle  of  the  month.  I  at  once  commenced 
making  pastoral  calls,  using  my  class-leaders  as 
guides.  One  of  them,  named  Campbell  Howard, 
the  leader  of  the  class  which  met  at  noon  on  Sun- 
days, was  a  man  eminent  for  character  and  prac- 
tical piety  and  godliness,  a  strictly  exemplary 
man.  We  commenced  the  pastoral  visitation  of 
his  large  class,  the  members  of  which  lived  in  the 
country  within  a  radius  of  three  miles  around 
Ripley,  and  the  visits  employed  us  nearly  three 
days. 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
second  day's  visitation,  we  came  to  a  halt  at  a 
large  gate,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  town, 
and  Brother  Howard  said :  "  We  have  a  member 
living  up  this  private  road  on  yonder  hill-top ; 
but  I  do  not  know  that  it  will  do  any  good  to 
visit  him,  as  he  has  not  attended  class  for  six 
months ;  and  he  is  out  with  us,  because  I  dunned 
him  for  five  dollars  due  on  last  year's  quarterage. 
He  quit  attending  Church,  and,  I  fear,  does  not 
care  much  for  religion  now."  I  replied :  "  He  is 
the  very  man  we  need  to  see ;  let  us  go.  I  am 
sent  specially  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house 
of  Israel."     He  smiled  approval,  opened  the  gate, 


142  Granville  Moody. 

and  drove  into  the  open  field,  which  extended 
back  from  the  turnpike,  and  commenced  ascending 
the  steep  hill.  We  soon  had  to  fasten  our  horses 
to  a  tree,  and  climb  the  hill  afoot.  We  followed 
the  margin  of  a  meandering  rivulet,  that  found 
its  devious  course  adown  the  steep  declivities  of 
the  farm. 

As  we  were  wending  our  way  along,  we  saw 
in  the  road  ahead  of  us  a  group  made  up  of  a 
man,  a  woman,  and  three  small  children,  the  young- 
est carried  by  the  mother,  while  the  father,  with 
wearied  steps,  carried  a  bag  of  potatoes.  They 
had  stopped  on  our  approach,  and  Brother  How- 
ard, in  an  undertone,  told  me  that  the  man  was 
the  son  of  the  old  gentleman  we  were  going  to 
visit,  that  those  with  him  were  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, and  that  they  had  just  moved  in  from  Indi- 
ana. The  man  had  been  sick  for  a  long  time  in 
Indiana,  and  they  were  in  very  poor  circumstances. 
I  said  that  we  might  do  them  good  in  their  troubles. 
Brother  Howard  introduced  me,  and  I  spoke 
kindly  to  the  man  and  his  wife,  asking  the  names 
of  their  children,  and  said :  "  I  hope  you  have  the 
comfort  and  strength  of  real  Christians  in  your 
hearts  to  aid  you  in  bearing  the  ills  that  flesh  is 
heir  to."  They  answered  that  they  were  not  Chris- 
tians, and  the  wife  added :  "  I  have  often  thought 
it  would  be  better  for  us  both,  and  for  our  children 
with  us,  if  we  were  true  Christians."  "Well," 
said  I,  "  what  hinders  your  becoming  Christians 
right  here  and  now  ?  God  is  willing.  Christ  is  a 
precious  Savior  for  you.     The   Holy  Spirit  waits 


Incidents  in  Itinerant  Life.  143 

to  enter  in.  Here  is  the  class-leader,  Brother 
Howard  ;  I  am  the  pastor  of  the  Church  in  Ripley, 
and  here  is  this  rippling  mountain  current,  with 
its  pure  and  sparkling  waters  for  your  baptism, 
and  equally  for  your  children.  Just  here  and  now 
repent,  believe,  obey,  and  be  at  peace  with  God, 
and  go  down  to  your  house  with  the  gospel's 
double  blessing,  pardon,  and  holiness — a  fivefold 
blessing.  Indeed,  I  can  promise  you,  here  and 
hereafter,  pardon  for  all  the  past ;  a  new  heart  and 
a  right  spirit ;  an  assured  sense  of  God's  favor 
and  blessing ;  providential  guidance,  living,  and 
dying  a  good  hope  through  grace ;  and,  after 
death,  the  plenitude  of  heaven.  Now,  why  not 
give  yourselves  to  God  right  here  and  now,  and 
consecrate  yourselves,  and  your  children  with  you, 
to  be  the  Lord's  forever,  and  claim  and  have  him 
as  your  God  in  Christ  forever?     Amen." 

At  the  close  of  this  gospel  overture  the  woman 
was  in  tears,  and  said  :  "  I  wish  he  would  do  so.  It 
is  right  we  should,  and  I  am  so  glad  we  may.  We 
ought  to  have  done  so  long  before  now,  and  I  be- 
lieve it  would  be  best  and  the  right  thing  to  do." 
"What!"  said  the  husband,  "out  here?  Let  us 
wait  till  some  Sunday,  and  join  the  Church  then." 
"What!"  said  I,  "when  God  says:  < To-day,  if  ye 
will  hear  his  voice  ;■'  *  Now  is  the  accepted  time ; 
behold,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation  ?'  To-day, 
and  here,  and  now,  repent,  believe,  obey,  and  be 
at  peace  with  God."  The  tears  rolled  down  both 
their  faces,  and  I  continued  :  "  Here  is  the  pure, 
rippling  water,  saying,  'Come,  believe,  obey,  and 


144  Granville  Moody. 

be  at  peace  with  God.'"  He  said:  "We  will." 
I  directed  the  mother  to  give  her  sleeping  babe  to 
the  class-leader,  and  they  came  and  knelt  down 
by  the  glad,  laughing  waters,  and  sealed  their  cov- 
enant with  God,  having  the  answer  of  a  good  con- 
science, and  their  bodies  washed  with  pure  water. 

I  recited  the  service  for  baptism  from  memory, 
and  both  parties  responded  appropriately.  Stand- 
ing beside  the  rapidly  running  stream,  which 
seemed  delighted  with  its  part  of  the  service  in 
supplying  the  sacramental  water,  I  asked  them, 
individually  and  jointly,  the  questions  in  the  bap- 
tismal covenant.  I  baptized  them  in  the  name  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,   closing  with  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

They  arose  with  Jehovah's  shining  seal  of  bap- 
tismal waters  upon  them,  and  we  gave  them  the 
right  hand  of  Christian  fellowship.  Then  I  quoted, 
"The  promise  is  unto  you  and  your  children;" 
and  asked  them,  "Will  you  present  your  house- 
hold to  the  Lord?"  They  gladly  agreed  together 
to  do  so.  I  knelt  down  by  the  running  stream, 
after  having  repeated  from  memory  the  formula 
for  infant  baptism.  I  received  the  children  into 
my  arms,  and  naming  each  child  after  the  name 
given  by  the  parents,  I  baptized  them  in  the 
name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  added:  "The 
Lord  receive  and  bless  and  save  and  remember 
this  solemn  service  in  all  succeeding  years."  The 
name  given  to  the  baby  was  Ulysses  Grant,  and 
I  prayed:  "May  this  child  'fight  it  out  on  this 
line,  if  it  takes  all  his  summers'  and  all  his 
years."     I  called  on  Brother  Howard  to  conclude 


Incidents  in  Itinerant  l,ife.  145 

the  service  with  prayer  ;  and  then,  pronouncing 
the  apostolic  benediction,  I  dismissed  the  company. 

The  baptized  family  resumed  their  journey 
down  the  hill,  and  we  went  up  the  hill  to  the 
house  of  the  father  and  mother,  to  whom  we  re- 
ported in  detail  what  the  son  and  his  wife  had 
done,  and  how  their  children  all  were  baptized 
into  the  Church  of  God.  The  father  was  sur- 
prised, delighted,  and  deeply  affected  at  what  had 
occurred.  He  wept  and  rejoiced,  and  repented 
too ;  and  pledged  us  to  resume  his  duties  in  the 
Church,  and  start  afresh  for  heaven.  He  prom- 
ised, with  a  full  and  penitent  heart,  to  co-operate 
in  the  good  work  begun  in  his  son's  family.  He 
kept  his  promise  faithfully  and  persistently  to  the 
day  of  his  death,  some  years  afterward. 

The  next  Sabbath  the  young  man  was  present 
at  the  church,  and  himself  and  wife  united 
therewith. 

In  the  winter  of  1875  I  left  Ripley  one  Friday 
morning  to  attend  the  second  quarterly  meeting 
for  Williamsburg  Station.  The  weather  was  very 
inclement,  and  I  was  encompassed  with  blankets, 
coverlets,  and  India-rubber  clothes  in  abundance. 
At  a  certain  point  I  turned  off  from  the  turnpike 
into  a  mud  road.  I  soon  discovered  a  mud-hole 
in  the  center  of  the  road,  and  thought  I  could 
pass  it  on  the  left ;  but  the  horse,  shying  from  the 
left,  plunged  the  right  wheel  into  the  hole,  which 
proved  to  be  two  feet  deep,  the  wheel  sinking  up 
to  the  hub,  and  the  buggy  careened. 

The    horse    became   very   much    excited    and 


146  Granville  Moody. 

restive,  while  I  was  so  bound  up  in  wraps  that  it 
required  great  exertion  to  extricate  myself.  For- 
tunately I  succeeded  in  doing  this,  and  leaped 
out,  sinking  in  the  mud  to  my  knees,  and  then 
to  my  hips.  I  took  the  horse  by  the  bit,  when  a 
man  and  boy  came  along.  We  unloosed  the  har- 
ness and  righted  up  the  buggy. 

After  getting  the  horse  into  the  shafts,  and 
myself  back  into  the  buggy,  I  asked  the  man  what 
I  should  pay  him  for  the  assistance  he  had  ren- 
dered. His  reply  was  remarkable  :  "  When  you  find 
any  other  man  in  trouble,  help  him  out  as  I  have 
helped  you,  and  that  will  square  the  account."  I 
commended  the  Christian  sentiment  expressed, 
and  thanking  him  for  the  sentiment,  I  also  thanked 
him  warmly  for  the  assistance  he  had  just  ren- 
dered me.  I  asked  him:  "Are  you  a  Christian?" 
"No,"  he  replied,  "I  am  not,  and  never  expect 
to  be."  I  preached  Jesus  and  his  salvation  to  him 
so  earnestly,  that  he  inquired:  "Who  are  you?" 
I  replied:  "I  am  a  Methodist  preacher,  now  pre- 
siding elder  of  this  Ripley  District,  and  am  on  my 
way  to  Williamsburg  to  hold  the  second  quarterly 
meeting  for  that  station."  "What,"  said  he,  "are 
you  Granville  Moody?"  "I  am,"  said  I.  "Well, 
I  have  heard  so  much  about  you  that  I  am  glad 
to  see  you."  I  hoped  that  we  should  both  rejoice 
that  we  had  formed  each  other's  acquaintance. 

I  then  proposed  that  we  join  in  united  prayer 
at  six  A.  M.,  and  at  one  P.  M.  and  at  six  P.  M.  for  a 
five  minutes'  prayer  till  we  should  meet  again  three 
months   hence.      I    urged    him    to    agree    to  this 


Incidents  in  Itinerant  Life.  147 

arrangement.  I  wept,  and  he  wept,  and  said  :  "I 
will."  I  said:  u  Thank  God  for  that  promise,  and 
let  us  now  pray  before  we  part."  I  prayed  that  this 
strange  interview  might  result  in  his  speedy  con- 
version. His  face  was  covered  with  tears  when  I 
closed.  I  pronounced  the  benediction  upon  him, 
and  we  parted.  I  learned  afterward  that  this  man 
was  the  terror  of  the  whole  county,  a  pugilist,  and 
a  hard  case  that  everybody  was  afraid  of,  and  that 
there  was  small  ground  to  hope  for  his  conversion. 
I  requested  the  Church,  at  the  quarterly  meeting,  to 
pray  to  God  for  the  man's  awakening,  conversion, 
and  salvation.  I  engaged  as  many  as  I  could  in- 
terest in  the  man  that  helped  me,  that  God  would 
help  him  who  so  timely  assisted  his  servant  in 
in  his  distress. 

Some  three  months  afterward  as  I  was  passing 
through  that  neighborhood  in  my  buggy,  I  met  the 
man,  and  our  recognition  was  mutual.  What  an 
experience  he  had  to  relate  !  He  said  that  the 
next  evening  he  went  to  a  protracted  meeting, 
and  related  at  the  close  of  the  meeting,  to  the 
congregation,  what  had  happened  in  the  way,  and 
requested  an  interest  in  the  prayers  of  that  con- 
gregation, then  and  there.  He  kneeled  at  the 
mourners'  bench,  and  in  a  short  time  the  prayers 
of  all  for  his  salvation  were  answered.  He  joined 
the  Church ;  his  wife  was  converted,  and  also 
united  with  the  Church.  His  daughters  shared  in 
the  abounding  grace,  and  the  revival  in  the  neigh- 
borhood spread  till  scores  were  converted  and 
added  to  the  Church.     He  told  me  of  what  God 


148  Granville  Moody. 

had  done  for  his  soul,  and  insisted  that  my  mishap 
in  being  upset  in  the  road  was  the  means  of 
setting  him  up  with  the  people  of  God.  He  re- 
joiced that  he  had  met  me  in  my  adversity;  it  had 
proved  a  means  of  grace  to  his  soul.  Glory  be  to 
the  wonder-working  God,  who  brings  good  out 
of  evil ! 


Sabbath-Keeping.  149 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SABBATH-KEEPING. 

AT  the  close  of  my  second  term  of  service  in 
Fulton,  the  brethren  from  all  parts  of  the 
conference  wrote  me  to  charter  a  light-draught 
steamer  to  take  them  from  Cincinnati  to  Marietta, 
the  place  selected  for  the  session  of  the  Ohio  Con- 
ference. I  made  a  contract  with  the  owners  of 
the  Little  Ben  to  take  one  hundred  preachers  from 
Cincinnati  to  Marietta  and  intermediate  points 
and  return,  at  certain  rates ;  to  leave  Cincinnati  at 
nine  A.  M.,  on  Tuesday,  the  last  week  in  August. 

At  early  dawn  of  the  day  on  which  conference 
was  to  open,  we  were  forty  or  fifty  miles  below 
Marietta.  I  asked  the  captain  when  he  could 
land  us  at  our  destination.  He  replied  :  "  Not  before 
half  past  ten  or  eleven  o'clock."  I  asked  if  that 
was  the  best  he  could  do,  and  was  told  it  was, 
unless  we  could  make  some  arrangement  with  the 
engineer  to  increase  the  speed  of  the  boat. 

I  took  the  hint,  and  went  to  the  engineer  and 
asked  him  if  he  could  increase  the  speed  of  the 
boat  so  that  we  might  reach  Marietta  by  nine 
o'clock.  He  informed  me  that  he  could  by  raising 
the  pressure  of  steam  some  ten  or  twenty  pounds, 
but  that  it  would  incur  a  risk  of  explosion.  It 
would  also  require  the  splitting  of  wood  to  feed  the 


150  Granville  Moody. 

furnaces.  The  additional  expense  would  be  about 
fifty  dollars.  "Will  you  put  us  there  by  nine 
o'clock  for  an  additional  fifty  dollars?"  He  an- 
swered affirmatively,  and  I  went  up-stairs  to  con- 
sult with  the  brethren  and  raise  the  amount. 

Bishop  Soule  was  among  the  first  to  agree  to 
the  proposition.  As  each  preacher  handed  in  the 
fifty  cents  needed  from  him,  he  also  made  a  pledge 
to  pray  for  safety.  I  went  down  and  told  the  en- 
gineer the  result.  Soon  a  strange  elasticity  was 
observed  in  the  movements  of  our  steamer.  We 
raised  waves  twice  the  former  size  on  the  star- 
board and  port.  Little  Bat  seemed  instinct  with 
life  and  rolled  ahead.  At  eight-forty-five  we  made 
the  landing,  and,  wending  our  way  to  the  church, 
were  in  time  for  the  opening  services. 

This  was  a.  stormy  conference.  The  recent 
action  of  the  General  Conference  (1844),  in  request- 
ing, or  rather  requiring,  Bishop  Andrew  to  cease 
his  episcopal  services  till  the  embarrassments 
growing  out  of  his  relation  to  slavery  should  cease, 
produced  much  excitement.  The  session  was  pro- 
longed till  Friday  of  the  second  week. 

In  returning  from  conference  the  steamer  got 
aground,  and  we  were  on  a  bar  all  Friday  night. 
All  hands  were  up  early  to  get  the  steamer  afloat. 
After  ineffectual  efforts,  the  officers  and  crew  unani- 
mously elected  me  captain  to  get  the  steamboat 
afloat.  I  agreed  to  take  charge  on  condition  that 
there  be  no  profane  swearing.  I  got  two  scows  from 
the  adjacent  shore,  and  unloaded  the  cargo  and 
about  one  hundred  passengers  into  them  ;  planted 


Sabbath-Keeping.  151 

spars  on  her  opposite  bows,  and,  by  means  of  the 
capstan,  lifted  the  bow,  started  the  wheels,  and  by 
so  combining  these  forces,  hove  the  boat  into 
deeper  water.  We  reloaded  the  steamboat,  dis- 
pensed with  the  scows,  and,  going  about  a  mile 
below  Guyandotte,  we  made  fast  to  the  shore.  I 
received  a  vote  of  thanks  from  the  crew  and  pas- 
sengers for  my  management. 

I  arose  early  next  morning,  the  Sabbath,  and 
was  suprised  to  find  steam  up,  and  preparations 
being  made  to  get  under  way.  I  went  to  the  cap- 
tain and  protested  against  traveling  on  the  holy 
Sabbath-day.  He  insisted  on  going,  and  I  resisted, 
claiming  that  I  had  chartered  the  steamboat  to 
and  from  conference  ;  that  we  had,  by  bad  steer- 
age, lost  a  day,  and  that  we,  as  Christian  minis- 
ters, protested  against  being  compelled  to  break 
the  holy  day  of  the  Lord  by  doing  ordinary  work 
therein. 

A  Jew  took  sides  with  the  captain,  and  insisted 
on  going  forward.  I  remarked  to  George  W. 
Walker  that  this  man  had  not  in  any  way  kept  or 
sought  to  keep  Saturday,  his  own  Jewish  Sabbath- 
day,  and  now  he  wanted  us  to  be  compelled  to 
break  the  Lord's-day,  and,  withal,  that  I  saw  him 
eating  slice  after  slice  of  ham  yesterday  as  I  sat 
opposite  him  at  table,  and  that  a  hog-eating  Jew 
was  a  poor  counselor,  and  a  worse  example  for 
Christian  ministers  to  follow.  He  did  not  keep 
his  own  Sabbath  on  yesterday,  and  now  comes 
demanding  that  a  steamboat,  with  one  hundred 
Christian  ministers  on   her,  shall  break  the   Sab- 


152  Granville  Moody. 

bath  of  the  Lord  our  Savior.  "No,"  said  I,  "let 
us  not  yield  to  this  Christ-despising  Jew,  and 
break  God's  law  of  the  Sabbath  that  was  made  for 
man,  and  to  be  kept  holy  in  all  our  dwellings." 
"  No,"  said  the  now  sainted  George  W.  Walker, 
"  I  shall  not  remain  on  board  this  steamboat  if  its 
owners  persist  in  breaking  the  Lord's-day  of  rest 
by  running  it  to-day." 

Bishop  Waugh  came  to  me  and  said :  "  What 
are  you  going  to  do  if  the  captain  insists  on  mak- 
ing the  trip  to-day?"  "  Do?"  said  I,  "  why,  I  shall 
insist  on  being  set  ashore."  "  Good !"  said  the 
bishop ;  "  I  '11  go  ashore  with  you."  He  got  his 
trunk  out  of  his  room  into  the  cabin.  Just 
then  Bishop  Soule  came  and  took  Bishop  Waugh 
into  his  state-room.  Shortly  after,  Bishop  Waugh 
came  to  me  and  said  :  "  Brother  Moody,  I  believe  I 
will  not  leave  the  boat  this  morning;  we  are 
providentially  detained."  "And  so  you  will  vol- 
untarily travel  on  the  Sabbath,  because  a  steers- 
man, maybe  with  a  glass  too  much  ahead,  de- 
tained the  steamer  till  Sabbath  morning?  Do  as 
you  are  advised ;  but  as  for  me,  I  shall  keep  the  Sab- 
bath of  the  Lord,  and  leave  this  Sabbath-breaking 
steamboat,  captain,  and  crew." 

And  so  we  did.  Some  ten  or  twelve  ministers 
asked  to  be  set  ashore.  The  captain,  when  ten 
or  eleven  had  gone  over  the  "narrow  way," 
turned  the  other  side  of  the  plank  up,  which  was 
so  greasy  from  having  bacon  handled  over  it  that 
I  could  not  walk  the  plank  without  slipping  on 
its  greasy  surface.     While  the   captain   was  hal- 


Sabbath-Keeping.  153 

loing,  I  went  to  the  furnace,  and  holding  a  silver 
quarter  of  a  dollar  to  the  black  fireman  told  him 
to  throw  a  large  bucket  of  ashes  on  the  greasy 
way.  He  did  it  with  such  precision  and  swiftness 
as  made  walking  safe,  and  trunk  in  hand  I 
descended  the  way  of  holiness,  safely  reached  the 
shore,  and  received  the  congratulations  of  my  com- 
rades who  had  preceded  me.  We  piled  our  trunks 
upon  the  beach,  clambered  up  the  banks,  and  the 
steamer  rang  her  bell  and  went  on  her  way. 

We  saw  a  fair  country  spreading  around,  a 
large  brick  house  on  a  gentle  eminence,  and 
wended  our  way  to  it.  As  we  approached  the 
spacious  house,  we  saw  its  owner,  a  courtly  gen- 
tleman, approaching  us.  When  he  came  within 
hailing  distance,  he  removed  his  large  white  hat, 
and  bowed,  and  said :  "  Gentlemen,  I  bid  you 
welcome  to  the  hospitalities  of  my  home.  My 
name  is  Ladely.  You  are  welcome  to  my  prem- 
ises." George  W.  Walker  then  addressed  him, 
saying:  "We  are  Methodist  preachers  of  the  Ohio 
Conference,  which  has  just  closed  its  session  in 
Marietta.  Our  steamer  met  with  a  mishap,  and 
we  were  all  Saturday  regaining  the  channel,  and 
were  laid  up  here  yesterday  in  the  evening.  This 
morning  the  captain  fired  up,  and,  after  an  early 
breakfast,  insisted  on  starting;  but  governed  by 
our  principles,  which  forbid  traveling  on  the 
Lord's-day,  we  left  the  Sabbath-breaking  steam- 
boat, and  so  are  here." 

Smiles  and  tears  mingled  in  his  counte- 
nance.   "Welcome!  welcome!  welcome!   Brethren 


154  Granville  Moody. 

beloved  in  the  Lord,  I  welcome  you  each  and  all 
to  my  heart  and  home.  I  also  am  a  Methodist, 
and  shall  rejoice  to  shelter  you." 

After  introducing  us  to  his  family,  he  said : 
"It  is  but  half  after  eight  o'clock,  and  we  shall 
be  delighted  to  hear  you  preach.  For  expediting 
business,  let  me  preside  as  bishop,  and  you  will 
aid  me  in  making  the  appointments  for  the  day. 
There  will  be  two  places  in  Guyandotte.  I  will 
recommend  Walker  and  Moody  to  them ;  to  a 
country  appointment  in  a  large  church,  Brother 
Gassner;  to  the  academy,  William  Herr." 

Thus  we  were  assigned,  and,  stepping  to  the 
door,  he  called  his  colored  man,  who  quickly  re- 
sponded, as  "the  King's  business  requires  haste." 
"Dick,"  he  said,  "you  go  to  Guyandotte  with  this 
appointment  to  our  preacher.  Pompey,  you  go 
with  this  appointment  to  the  country  church. 
Abraham,  you  take  this  appointment  to  the 
academy.  Tell  in  each  place  that  divine  worship 
and  preaching  by  Ohio  preachers  will  begin  at 
half-past  ten  o'clock  this  morning.  Now  hurry, 
boys,  and  tell  the  preachers,  if  they  please,  to 
invite  and  urge  all  their  people  to  meet  here  this 
evening  for  a  mass-meeting."  We  were  requested 
to  announce  meetings  at  three  P.  M.  and  at  half- 
past  seven  P.  M.,  at  Representative  Ladely's. 

We  each  had  a  pleasant  day  with  our  stranger 
friends ;  but  the  evening  meeting  was  a  huge  one. 
The  ample  house-lot  held  hundreds  of  orderly 
listeners,  and  a  multitude  of  Negroes  came  to  hear 
the  Ohio  preachers  who  honored  God  in  keeping 


Sabbath-Keeping. 


155 


his  Sabbath  holy.  After  two  or  three  addresses 
by  two  or  three  of  us,  we  turned  the  service  into 
an  experience-meeting,  and  white  and  yellow  and 
black  people  mingled  their  recitals  of  what  grace 
had  wrought  in  their  souls,  and  the  good  hope  all 
entertained  through  grace.  It  was  indeed  good  to 
be  there.  I  have  no  doubt  that  God  was  there, 
and  abundantly  blessed  the  visitors  and  the 
visited. 

After  a  night  of  refreshing  sleep  we  were 
called  up  to  an  early  breakfast,  so  that  we  could 
get  on  the  Dinkey,  a  small  boat  drawing  but  one 
foot  of  water.  Congressman  Ladely  had  detailed 
one  of  his  slaves  to  go  out  and  watch  the  arrival 
of  the  boat,  and  had  sent  our  baggage  down  to 
the  landing.  We  had  a  delightful  season  of  family 
worship,  and  then,  with  hearty  relish,  broke  our 
fast  of  the  night  with  thankfulness  of  heart,  and 
went  on  our  way  rejoicing. 

We  were  perfectly  satisfied  with  our  choice 
and  acts  that  beautiful  September  morning;,  when, 
presto,  what  is  this?  Here,  out  of  the  channel  and 
fast  on  a  sand-bar,  lay  our  Sabbath-breaking,  God- 
defying,  reckless  Little  Ben,  her  guards  crowded 
with  Bishop  Soule  and  about  seventy  Methodist 
preachers  going  home  from  conference,  but  now 
stalled  in  their  Sabbath -breaking  Little  Ben.  We 
passed  within  a  rod  of  their  side,  but  passed  in 
silence.  In  their  lugubrious  countenances  they 
seemed  to  give  utterance  to  the  monitory  apo- 
thegm, "The  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard." 
Bishop  Waugh  had  left  the  Little  Ben  and  taken 


156  Granville  Moody. 

an  open  boat  to  go  to  Portsmouth  and  preach  in 
the  evening ;  but  he  found  the  sun  and  its  reflec- 
tion on  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  so  severe,  that  his 
skin  was  much  scorched,  and  he  appeared  before 
the  audience  in  poor  plight  for  preaching. 

Our  boat  reached  Portsmouth  in  due  time  to 
take  the  regular  packet  for  Cincinnati  at  six  P.  M. 
the  same  evening ;  and  thus  we,  Sabbath-keeping 
Christians,  beat  the  Sabbath-breaking  Christians, 
and  got  to  Cincinnati  a  long  time  ahead  of  them, 
and  found  that  all  is  well  that  ends  well.  "The 
end  crowns  the  action." 

Religion  always  ends  well.  Whatever  diffi- 
culties may  be  met  with  in  the  way,  the  end  is 
best.  The  general  truth  is  abundantly  verified 
that  "wisdom's  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness, 
and  all  her  paths  are  peace."  Religion  is  true 
wisdom. 


Extracts  from  Early  Writings.      157 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
extracts  from  early  writings. 

PUTTING   ON    CHRIST. 

IN  order  to  put  on  Christ,  we  must  put  off  the  old 
man,  or  nature,  which  is  corrupt  by  deceitful  lusts. 
Our  old  habits  are  like  a  filthy,  tattered  garment. 
Christ  will  not  impart  the  righteousness  which  is  by 
faith  till,  like  Bartimeus,  we  cast  away  our  garment, 
and  come  to  him  for  clean  garments.  If  we  could 
put  on  the  new  and  clean  garment  over  the  old  and 
filthy  one,  how  then  could  we  get  the  old  garment  off? 
Christ  will  not  have  concord  with  Belial.  "  If  any 
man  be  in  Christ  he  is  a  new  creature."  He  is  a 
Christian,  and  "a  Christian  is  the  highest  style  of 
man."  He  has  a  new  God,  a  new  rule  of  action,  a 
new  object  of  pursuit,  a  new  nature,  a  new  heart, 
a  new  name,  a  new  road,  a  living  way,  new  com- 
panions, new  desires,  hopes,  fears,  aversions,  anxieties, 
and  determinations ;  and,  if  faithful,  he  shall  have,  as 
a  residence,  a  mansion  in  the  house  of  God  in  the 
New  Jerusalem. — May  23,  1839. 

negations. 

Positive  terms  may  be  understood  in  different  de- 
grees of  latitude.  But  this  is  impossible  concerning 
negative  terms,  inasmuch  as  a  negative  admits  of  no 
degrees.  Thus  the  exclusion  of  the  impenitent  unbe- 
liever is  expressed  in  the  strongest  negative  terms, — ■ 
"  They  shall  not  taste  of  my  supper;"  "not  enter  into 


158  Granville  Moody. 

my  rest;"  "hath  not  life;"  "shall  not  see  life;" 
"their  worm  dieth  not,  and  their  fire  is  not  quenched." 
Now  annex  the  positive  terms,  — "  Shall  be  damned ;" 
"  shall  be  destroyed  with  everlasting  destruction ;" 
"shall  be  ill  with  the  wicked;"  "torment  shall  ascend 
up  forever  and  ever;"  and  you  have  the  whole  case 
strongly  stated  by  Him  who  can  not  lie.  Future  pun- 
ishment in  eternal  succession  is  as  plainly  revealed  as 
future  joy,  and  in  the  same  way,  in  endless  dura- 
tion.— May  24.,  1839. 

FUNDAMENTAL  DOCTRINES. 

Faith  in  the  propitiatory  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ 
by  all  who  have  heard  the  gospel,  appears  from  the 
Word  of  God  to  be  fundamental,  necessary  "  causa 
sine  qua  non"  in  the  Christian  religion.  For  if  Christ 
is  set  forth  as  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  his 
blood,  then  faith  in  his  blood  is  fundamental ;  and,  as 
the  text  speaks  of  him  as  a  propitiation,  then  faith 
must  have  reference  to  him  in  that  character.  How 
can  this  exist  in  a  person  who  denies  the  atonement, 
and  considers  the  death,  the  blood  of  Christ,  merely 
exemplary  or  as  that  of  a  martyr? 

We  are  said  to  be  justified  by  that  faith  of  which 
he  is  the  object ;  and  if  the  conceptions  of  the  Socin- 
ians  of  that  object  are  essentially  different  from  ours, 
then  their  faith  must  be  as  different,  and  ours  or  theirs 
essentially  defective  or  erroneous.  If  God's  plan  of 
saving  sinners  requires  a  cordial  acceptance  of  Christ 
as  the  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  world;  if  we 
have  redemption  in  his  blood  by  faith  therein ;  if  look- 
ing to  Christ  as  crucified  is  a  condition  of  cure  ac- 
cording to  Christ's  own  teaching  when  he  refers  to  the 
brazen  serpent, — then  they  who  reject  deliberately  and 


Extracts  from  Early  Writings.      159 

habitually  every  idea  of  vicarious  atonement  can  not 
be  saved  in  that  way. 

Christ  is  said  to  be  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteous- 
ness to  every  one  that  believe th.  Then  justification 
is  the  result  of  faith  in  Christ  as  the  great  antitype 
of  the  legal  sacrifices  and  ceremonies.  He  was  our 
vicar  to  die  for  us ;  not  only  for  our  good,  but  in  our 
place  and  as  our  victim.  How  else  could  he  have 
fulfilled  those  types  ?  We  are  assured  from  the  New 
Testament,  especially  by  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
that  the  daily  and  annual  sacrifices  offered  by  the 
Jews  were  typical  of  Christ ;  but  if  they  typified  him  at 
all,  it  must  have  been  in  his  death  ;  and  if  they  typified 
anything  in  his  death,  it  must  have  been  the  atone- 
ment which  he  made.  They  could  not  typify  in  him 
the  death  of  a  martyr,  sealing  his  doctrine  with  his 
blood,  or  an  example.  These  are  true  as  far  as  they 
go,  but  they  do  net  go  far  enough.  "  He  was  wounded 
for  our  transgressions,  bruised  for  our  iniquities ;  the 
chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him,  and  by  his 
stripes  we  are  healed."  Thus  by  him  we  receive  the 
atonement.  How,  then,  can  those  be  benefited  by 
Christ  as  the  Lamb  slain,  an  offering  for  sin,  who  deny 
the   atonement  and  reject  the  atoning  blooddi  vine? 

the  truth. 

God  says :  "  Buy  the  truth,  and  sell  it  not."  Buy 
it,  cost  what  it  may.  If  it  cost  thee  toil  and  labor,  buy 
it.  If  thou  must  sacrifice  ease  and  emolument,  buy  it- 
If  thou  give  the  world  in  exchange,  buy  it.  If  it  cost 
thee  thy  life,  still  buy  the  truth ;  thou  wilt  be  an  in- 
finite gainer.  Sell  it  not  on  any  conditions ;  thou  wilt 
be  a  loser  though  a  universe  were  received  in  ex- 
change ;  "for  what  shall  it  profit  a  man   if  he   shall 


160  Granville  Moody. 

gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul?"  Even 
a  heathen  hath  said,  "No  evil  man  is  happy;"  and  a 
greater  than  Cicero  has  said,  "  There  is  no  peace  to 
the  wicked." 

BEREAVEMENTS. 

Bereavements  are  sometimes  rendered  peculiarly 
afflictive  by  the  consideration  that  our  sins  have  been 
the  cause  of  the  decease  of  those  dear  to  us,  and  by 
conscience  we  are  compelled  to  put  that  interpretation 
on  the  occurrence  recorded  in  i  Kings  xvii,  18 ; 
viz.,  "  to  bring  our  sins  to  remembrance."  We  look 
on  the  beloved  dead  whom  we  have  pierced  and  slain, 
whom  we  have  neglected  or  treated  with  cold  and  in- 
different behaviour,  and  no  marvel  that  we  mourn  bit- 
terly whilst  we  exclaim,  "  What  have  I  done  ?" 

Ofttimes  what  we  call  bereavements  are  invest- 
ments in  heaven,  transferred  there  by  our  Heavenly 
Father,  who  cares  for  us  and  evinces  his  concern  for 
our  weal,  by  storing  up  treasure  for  us  in  heaven,  in- 
asmuch as  we  are  so  negligent  in  this  important  matter. 
Heaven  is  richer  by  those  removals  which  cause  us  so 
much  pain,  and  earth  is  intentionally  impoverished  in 
order  to  displace  our  affections  from  its  mutable  joys, 
and  induce  us  to  look  at  those  things  which  are  above, 
where  Christ  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  Our 
earthly  adhesions  are  broken  or  dissolved,  so  as  to 
wean  our  hearts  from  earthly  things,  and  produce  in  us 
the  spirit  of  pilgrims  and  sojourners,  declaring  plainly 
that  "  here  we  have  no  continuing  city,  but  we  seek 
one  to  come  that  hath  foundations,  whose  builder  and 
maker  is  God." 

Thus  are  we  prepared  to  say,  "  What  have  I  here? 
What  do  I  here?  Give  me  food  to  eat  and  raiment 
to  put  on,  and  be  with  me  in  the  way  that  I  go,  so  that 


Extracts  from  Early  Writings.       161 

I  come  to  my  Father's  house  in  peace,  and  the  Lord 
shall  be  my  God." 

"  When  Heaven  would  set  our  spirits  free, 
And  earth's  enchantments  end, 
It  takes  the  most  effectual  way, 
And  robs  us  of  a  friend." 

Speaking  politically,  the  departure  of  those  who 
are  in  Christ  is  a  removal  of  the  deposits  from  the 
bank  of  earth  to  the  safe  inclosures  of  heaven,  to 
be  disbursed  to  us  as  we  shall  need  when  mortality 
shall  be  swallowed  up  of  life.  They  are  not  lost,  but 
gone  before ;  and  could  their  voices  be  heard  from  on 
high,  they  would  exhort  us  to  follow  them  up  the 
shining  way  to  see  the  glories  unseen  by  mortal  eyes, 
and  enjoy  the  felicities  of  our  Father's  house.  They, 
in  supereminence  of  beatific  vision,  enjoy  the  pres- 
ence of  their  Lord,  whilst  onward,  in  the  dateless  and 
irrevoluble  circle  of  eternity,  the  river  of  God's  pleasure 
rolls,  supplying  immortal  pleasures  for  the  honored 
sons  of  God.  Shall  we,  then,  hang  our  harps  upon  the 
willows,  and  our  heads  like  bulrushes,  and  mourn  for 
their  decease,  when  we  know  that  they  have  died  to 
live  ?  They  live  above,  and  have  received  their  golden 
harps,  strung  and  tuned  for  endless  years,  and  are  pour- 
ing forth  the  full,  free,  melodious  notes,  which  angels 
use  in  honor  of  their  God.  Rather  let  us,  by  holy  as- 
piration and  spiritual  musings,  enkindle  our  affections 
till  they  burst  in  songs  of  praise  to  enliven  our  heaven- 
ward pilgrimage,  and  thus  make  the  services  of  earth 
a  prelude  to  those  holier  exercises  which  shall  engage 
our  enlarged  capacities  when  we  shall  see  Him  as  he  is. 

Our  friends,  our  relatives,  have  gone — whither  ?  To 
their  Father  and  our  Father.  We  remember  their 
love,  dear   before,   but    O,  how   much   dearer   now ! 


1 62  Granville  Moody. 

Could  we  see  them,  we  should  love  them  more  than  we 
did,  more  than  we  do.  They  are  freed  from  all  imper- 
fection, and  adorned  with  the  splendors  of  the  skies ; 
they,  with  radiant  glories,  reflect  the  luster  of  the  cen- 
tral sun,  high  in  the  climes  of  bliss.  My  own  dear 
babe  is  there,  my  first-born,. my  lovely  Ellen;  freed 
from  pain  and  free  from  the  pollutions  of  the  world  ; 
warbling  the  praises  of  her  father's  God ;  caroling  the 
glories  of  the  satisfying  portion  of  her  mother's  saintly 
spirit;  waiting,  according  to  the  intelligence  received 
from  heaven's  King,  to  welcome  us  into  the  everlast- 
ing habitations.  Come,  death  and  some  celestial  band, 
to  guide  us  upon  high! 

Early  in  my  ministerial  life  I  was  called  to  be  the 
stay  and  support  of  a  widowed  mother,  who  was 
mourning  the  loss  of  the  best  of  husbands,  the  kindest 
of  fathers.  With  anguished  heart  and  weeping  eyes, 
and  womanly  eloquence  of  grief,  she  told  the  tale  of 
woe,  but  mourned  not  as  those  who  have  no  hope. 
My  father,  William  Moody,  lived  a  life  of  faith,  and  to 
Christian  precept  added  the  influence  of  a  holy  life. 
Beloved  by  his  family,  respected  in  the  world,  honored 
in  the  Church,  he  passed  the  term  of  his  sojourning  here 
in  humble  love  and  filial  fear.  For  him  the  grave  had 
no  terrors,  eternity  no  alarms.  With  an  Abrahamic 
faith,  he  resigned  his  all  to  God-  When  asked  by  my 
dear  mother  whether  light  shone  upon  his  path,  he 
replied  with  heroic  calmness,  although  in  the  height 
of  the  last  conflict  with  the  last  enemy,  "  Harriet,  I 
have  trusted  Christ ;  I  must  trust  Christ ;  I  do  trust 
Christ;"  and  calmly  rendered  up  his  life  at  the  com- 
mand of  God. 

My  brother,  Edward  Payson  Moody,  died  at  the 
age  of  nine  years,  and  gave  us  satisfactory  evidence 
that  he  sleeps  in    Jesus.     Lately  sister    Ellen   (Mrs. 


Extracts  from  Early  Writings.      163 

Holliday)  lost  her  babe,  her  boy,  her  only  child; 
Brother  William  has  five  babes  in  glory ;  many  have 
gone.  We  are  going,  like  clouds  driven  by  the  steady 
wind.  Rapidly  we  are  hastening  from  horizon  to 
horizon,  and  soon,  away  from  the  gaze  of  mortals  hur- 
ried, we  shall  enter  the  boundless  expanse  of  eternity, 
the  horizonless  range  of  being,  with  immutable  char- 
acter, corresponding  to  the  permanent  institutions  of 
successive  duration.  Great  God,  forbid  that  any  of  us, 
as  clouds  without  water  carried  about  of  winds,  or 
wandering  stars,  should  be  hurried  to  the  blackness  of 
darkness  forever ! 

"  Then  soon  or  late,  o'er  life's  rough  sea 
By  storms  and  tempests  driven, 
O  may  we  meet,  no  wanderer  lost, 
A  family  in  heaven  !" 

I  have  stood  by  the  bedside  of  the  Christian  when 
death  was  feeling  for  his  heart-strings;  when  the  long- 
loved  scenes  of  his  life  were  retiring,  proclaiming  their 
emptiness  when  the  world,  the  hollow-hearted  world, 
owned  itself  to  be  a  bruised,  broken  reed ;  and  the 
physician  was  there,  his  rigid,  set  features  showing 
with  how  much  fortitude  he  had  taken  his  stand  against 
diseases,  the  van  of  death,  and  disputed  every  inch  of 
territory  with  the  ruthless  invader,  but  all  in  vain. 
Baffled,  disappointed,  conquered,  he  grounds  his  arms 
and  yields  his  patient,  though  reluctantly.  And  there 
were  friends  and  family  connections ;  and  there,  too, 
was  the  frail  form  of  her  who,  in  early  life,  by  the  now 
dying  man,  was  led  to  the  altar,  and  there  promised 
to  love,  obey,  and  keep  him  in  sickness  as  in  health, 
and  forsaking  all  others  to  cleave  to  him  till  death 
should  them  part.  Faithfully  she  kept  her  plighted 
vows,  and  through  storm  and  calm,  and  joys  and  sor- 
rows, she  has  accompanied  him  ;  and,  like  the  vine,  the 


164  Granville  Moody. 

fruitful  vine,  she  embraced  him  for  weal  or  woe,  for 
better  or  for  worse.  The  tendrils  of  her  affections  en- 
twined themselves  around  the  boughs  of  his  more 
rugged  nature.  The  evergreen  of  her  love,  alike  in 
winter  and  in  spring,  adorned  him  most  enviably, 
clinging  to  him  alike  in  the  spring  of  life  and  when 
wintry  winds  prevailed.  When  others,  like  neighboring 
trees,  stretched  forth  the  hand  of  welcome,  and  wooed 
her  thence,  she,  with  unchecked  affections,  clasped 
him  closer,  still  his  wife,  the  light  of  his  eyes,  his  solace 
amid  sorrows. 

Yes,  I  have  seen  her  at  his  dying  bed.  Her  heart, 
filled  by  its  trembling  fears,  o'erflows  in  lamentations 
and  mourning  and  woe.  She  embraces  the  loved 
form,  though  the  seal  of  death  is  there.  She  lays  her 
fainting  head  on  the  heaving  bosom  of  the  dying  man, 
and  holds  strange  converse  with  his  fluttering  spirit. 
His  eyes  would  fain  kindle  into  the  soft  effulgence 
of  reciprocated  love,  but  they  fail.  He  lays  his  hand 
upon  her  throbbing  head,  his  tongue  fails  to  supply 
the  vehicle  of  thought  or  love;  but,  still  as  the  grave, 
as  though  under  its  silent  solemn  influences,  whilst 
his  frame  shakes  and  his  limbs  tremble  with  the  chills 
of  death,  he  embraces  her  and  imprints,  with  lips  quiv- 
ering in  agony,  as  first  in  life's  fair  morn,  so  now 
in  life's  decline,  the  pledge  of  heart-felt  love.  His  bless- 
ing, like  the  dew  of  heaven,  rests  upon  his  children, 
whilst  his  speaking  eye  and  faltering  tongue,  and 
every  action,  say,  Meet  me  in  heaven. 

Yes,  I  have  witnessed  such  scenes.  I  have,  as  a 
minister  of  the  gospel,  administered  the  stimulating 
cordials  of  God's  promises.  I  have  seen  death  con- 
quered in  the  conflict,  or  held  at  bay  by  the  majesty 
of  holiness.  I  have  seen  the  believer  walk,  not  fly 
nor  run,  but  walk  as  though  he  were  in  an  eastern 


Extracts  from  Early  Writings.       165 

spice-grove,  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death, 
devoid  of  fear.  We  have  sung  the  songs  of  Zion,  the 
songs  of  deliverance  here  in  the  strangest  part  of  the 
strange  land,  till  all  the  regions  were  vocal  with  the 
re-echoed  notes  of  triumph.  And  between  the  music 
of  both  worlds  the  holy  spirit  took  its  upward  flight. 
The  abundant  entrance  thus  administered  into  the 
mansions  of  glory  illuminated,  as  it  were  with  heaven's 
own  radiance,  the  favored  apartment,  and  we  felt  that 
"  God  was  not  far  from  every  one  of  us." 

"  Such  the  prospects  that  arise 
To  the  dying  Christian's  eyes ; 
Such  the  glorious  vista  faith 
Opens  through  the  shades  of  death." 

— Montgomery,  October,  29,  /8jg, 

THE   WORD    MADE    FLESH. 

Should  it  be  asked  why  Christ  is  called  the 
"Word,"  the  proper  answer  seems  to  be,  that  as  a 
thought  or  conception  of  the  understanding  is  com- 
municated by  words,  so  is  the  divine  will  made  known 
by  Jesus  Christ  to  man.  He  is  the  offspring  and 
emanation  of  the  eternal  mind,  a  promanation  pure 
and  undivided,  like  that  of  light,  which  is  the  proper 
issue  of  the  sun,  and  yet  coeval  with  its  parent  orb. 
Since  the  sun  can  not  be  supposed,  by  the  most  exact 
and  philosophical  imagination,  to  exist  a  moment 
without  emitting  light, — and  if  one  were  eternal,  the 
other,  though  strictly  and  properly  produced  by  it, 
would  be  as  strictly  and  properly  coeternal  with  it, — 
so  Jesus  Christ  is  styled  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father,  the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory,  the 
express  image  of  his  person;  according  to  a  more 
literal  rendering,  "the  outbeaming  of  the  Father's 
glory-" 


1 66  Granville  Moody. 

As  its  regards  the  figurative  allusion  of  the  writer 
of  this  text,  we  may  observe  that,  as  to  the  sun,  it  has 
an  inherent  splendor  and  a  proceeding  splendor  ;  the 
latter  is  not  only  of,  or  from,  the  former,  but  of  the 
same  nature  identically ;  and  also  was  in  the  inherent 
splendor  as  well  as  now  that  it  hath  proceeded  from 
it,  it  is  the  proceeding  splendor.  Had  the  inherent 
splendor  been  eternal,  the  proceeding  splendor  would 
likewise  have  been  eternal.  So  Jesus  is,  according  to 
the  Nicaean  creed  adopted  in  the  primitive  and  purest 
ages  of  Christianity,  "  God  of  God;  very  God  of  very 
God;  begotten,  not  made;  of  one  substance,  power,  and 
glory  with  the  Father;  Light  of  Light."  As  we  can 
not  know  the  mind  of  man  but  by  speech,  nor  see  the 
sun  but  by  his  emitted  light,  so  no  man  knoweth  the 
Father  but  the  Son  and  he  to  whom  he  will  reveal 
Him. — October,  1839. 

THE    BIBLE. 

The  great  Jehovah  has  spoken  to  man.  He  has 
revealed  his  will.  His  word  is  for  a  lamp  to  our  feet, 
a  light  to  our  path.  It  contains  the  only  and  suffi- 
cient rule  of  faith  and  practice.  It  is  able  to  make  us 
wise  unto  salvation.  How  invaluable,  then  !  Its  worth 
is  countless.  Dark,  dreary,  and  cheerless  must  be  the 
condition  of  those  who  enjoy  not  its  light.  It  is  diffi- 
cult even  to  conceive  their  destitution. 

We  have  contemplated  man  as  a  weary,  way-worn 
traveler,  without  a  guide,  whose  pathway  is  dark  and 
dismal  as  the  wing  of  the  angel  of  despair, — sur- 
rounded by  snares,  exposed  to  dangers,  seductive  in- 
fluences breathing  around  him,  no  kind  guiding  hand, 
no  light  beaming  on  his  way,  and  beguiled  by  the 
adversary,  the  deceiver.  As  a  voyager  on  life's  tem- 
pestuous sea,  he  has  no  pilot,  compass,  or  chart.     The 


Extracts  from  Early  Writings.      167 

sea  he  navigates  is  full  of  dangers ;  hidden  rocks  and 
treacherous  whirlpools  are  on  every  side.  The  cur- 
tains of  midnight  envelop  his  gloom.  The  storm  is 
up.  The  wing  of  the  tempest  sweeps  onward  with 
fury.  That  bird  alone,  whose  birthplace  was  the  habi- 
tation of  storms,  whose  cradle-bed  was  the  bannered 
clouds  of  heaven,  rides  in  the  wild  and  universal  dis- 
order which  prevails. 

Such  is  man's  condition  without  the  influences  of 
divine  revelation.  Thanks  be  to  God  for  this  un- 
speakable gift,  a  guide  for  the  Christian  to 

"  The  home  of  the  Father  above, 
The  palace  of  angels  and  God!" 

It  is  at  once  pilot,  chart,  and  compass,  by  which  we 
may  navigate  safely  the  dangerous  sea  of  life.  It  is 
the  star  which  lends  its  steady  light  to  the  darkness 
of  our  way.  It  is  the  glorious  beacon-light,  kindled 
by  Jehovah  himself,  to  conduct  man's  frail  and  storm- 
stossed  bark  to  the  haven  of  endless  rest.  May  its 
light  rejoice  every  habitation  and  every  heart ! — Mont- 
gomery, July  22,  1840. 

Experimental  knowledge  is  theoretical  knowledge 
applied  and  acted  upon.  For  instance,  the  woman 
who  had  been  diseased  twelve  years,  said  within  her- 
self, "If  I  may  but  touch;"  this  was  her  opinion. 
She  came  and  touched  his  garment,  and  felt  in  her 
body  that  she  was  healed;  this  was  her  experience. 
So  the  sinner  hears  of  Christ,  forms  an  opinion  of  his 
ability  and  willingness  to  save ;  he  lays  hold  upon  the 
hope  set  before  him,  and  obtains  a  knowledge  of  salva- 
tion by  the  remission  of  sins. 

I  would  rather  suffer  for  speaking  the  truth  than 
that  the  truth  should  suffer  in  consequence  of  my  not 
speaking. 


168  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

REPORTS  FROM  VARIOUS  CHARGES. 

Fulton,  Feb.  29,  i8j6. — Gratitude  constrains  me 
to  announce  to  the  friends  of  Jesus,  that  we  have 
been  favored  with  his  presence,  I  may  say  almost 
uninterruptedly,  since  the  20th  of  September.  Since 
then  we  have  had  between  ninety  and  ninety-five 
applications  for  a  probationary  relation  to  the 
Church.  Many  have  experienced  religion,  and 
the  work  is  progressing.  But  the  best  of  all  is, 
God  is  with  us  as  a  refiner  and  purifier.  Since 
last  Monday  eve,  four  of  our  members  (one  a  class- 
leader)  have  obtained  the  blessing  of  sanctifica- 
tion,  and  are  now  the  living  witnesses  of  Jesus 
that  sin  is  all  destroyed.  Last  night  between 
twenty-five  and  thirty  of  our  members  presented 
themselves  at  the  altar  as  candidates  for  this  great 
salvation ;  and  with  strong  crying,  and  tears,  and 
groanings  which  could  not  be  uttered,  waited  for 
the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  was  a  glori- 
ous time.  We  felt  that  God  was  not  far  from 
every  one  of  us;  and,  glory  to  his  name,  he  left 
his  bessings  behind  him.  Two  found  that  their 
hallowing  Lord  had  wrought  a  perfect  cure,  and 
we  believe  that  many  are  stepping  into  the  pool. 

Montgomery,  April  2, 1840. — West  Chester  Cir- 
cuit has  been  favored  with  a  gracious  outpouring 


Reports  from  Various  Charges.       169 

of  the  Spirit.  As  the  result  of  a  series  of  pro- 
tracted meetings,  about  one  hundred  and  eighty 
names  have  been  received.  The  work  is  advanc- 
ing steadily.  Our  congregations  have  been  in- 
creasing. Many  are  counting  the  cost,  whose 
names  we  expect  soon  to  enroll  as  followers  of  the 
Lamb.  The  diversity  of  sentiment  on  religious 
subjects,  which  exists  in  this  region  so  extensively, 
has  much  retarded  the  progress  of  the  gospel. 
Truth  has  to  contend  with  nearly  every  grade  of 
error  and  delusion,  from  Calvinism  down  to  Uni- 
versalism  ;  but  truth  is  mighty,  and  is  prevailing. 

Lancaster,  December  16,  184.7. — We  have  been 
favored  with  a  revival  in  this  charge.  The  altar 
of  prayer  has  been  surrounded,  night  after  night, 
with  awakened  persons  seeking  religion.  Souls 
have  been  converted  every  evening.  Many  are 
seeking  the  blessing  of  perfect  love. 

Zanesville,  Feb.  ij,  1850. — The  Seventh  Street 
charge  is  in  the  midst  of  a  glorious  revival.  This 
work  of  grace  was  decidedly  developed  about  six 
weeks  since,  and  has  steadily  progressed  in  in- 
terest ;  and,  I  think,  the  prospect  has  never  been 
so  good  for  a  general  work  as  at  present.  The 
membership  have  been  quickened  by  the  spirit  of 
grace,  many  backsliders  have  been  reclaimed,  the 
deep-seated  carelessness  of  the  impenitent  has 
been  disturbed,  and  a  general  seriousness  pervades 
the  overflowing  congregations  which  crowd  the 
spacious  church  in  this  charge.  Our  beloved  pre- 
siding elder,  the  venerable  Jacob  Young,  has 
abounded  in  labors  with   us ;  his  solemn  sermons, 


170  Granville  Moody. 

agonizing  prayers,  fervent  expostulations,  and 
faithful  exhortations,  we  believe,  will  not  soon  be 
forgotten.  Long  may  his  valuable  life  be  spared ! 
The  altar  has  been  crowded,  night  after  night, 
with  penitent  persons,  as  also  the  pews  in  front  of 
the  altar,  while  ever  and  anon  the  shout  of  victory 
ascended  from  those  who  found  deliverance  through 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  We  have  received  an  ac- 
cession of  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  to  the 
station — some  twelve  or  fifteen  of  them  by  cer- 
tificate— the  rest  on  trial.  These  persons  are  of 
a  class  that  promise  great  usefulness  to  the  Church. 
We  think  you  will  hear  from  us  again  soon. 

March  18,  1850. — About  a  month  ago,  we  had 
the  pleasure  of  reporting  the  progress  of  a  blessed 
revival  of  religious  interest  in  this  station,  at  the 
close  of  which  we  said :  "  We  think  you  will  hear 
from  us  again  soon."  Thank  God,  that  expectation 
has  been  realized !  The  meeting  has  been  pro- 
tracted, nearly  without  interruption,  till  the  pres- 
ent time.  The  altar  has  been  surrounded  with 
inquiring  souls,  and  "  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was 
present  to  heal."  Upward  of  forty  persons  have 
been  added  to  the  Church  since  our  last  report, 
making,  in  all,  some  one  hundred  and  sixty,  with 
a  fair  prospect  still.  As  a  society,  we  feel  the 
vast  responsibility  that  rests  upon  us,  and  rejoice 
with  trembling.  O,  that  we  may  be  kept  from 
the  evil  that  is  in  the  world ! 

Zanesville,  O.,  April  jo,  1851. — We  have  just 
closed  the  labors  of  our  third  quarterly  meeting. 
It  was,  indeed,  a  time  of  interest  and  profit ;  and 


Reports  from  Various  Charges.       171 

now  that  the  time  of  our  departure  from  this  sta- 
tion is  approaching,  we  deem  it  proper,  with  pro- 
found gratitude  to  God,  to  report  progress,  and 
state  the  results  of  the  labors  of  the  Church  in 
this  charge  during  our  pastoral  connection  with  it. 
Since  last  November  there  have  been  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-six  applications  for  membership, 
one  hundred  and  ninety-four  on  trial,  and  thirty- 
two  by  certificate — most  of  whom  have  been 
received  and  classed ;  which,  with  the  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-three  received  during  our  first 
year  in  this  charge  make,  within  the  last  eighteen 
months,  the  total  of  four  hundred  and  nine  acces- 
sions to  the  Church. 

The  revival  has  brought  a  great  number  of 
young  men  into  our  communion,  greatly  increas- 
ing the-  strength  of  this  charge,  and  they  still 
promise  great  usefulness  in  this  arm  of  the  army. 
I  have  found  the  membership  emphatically  a 
working  people,  gladly  co-operating  with  us  in  all 
the  holy  enterprises  of  the  Church  ;  and  our  ap- 
proaching separation,  by  the  limitation  of  our 
economy,  fills  our  hearts  with  sorrow.  "We  have 
them  in  our  hearts,  to  live  and  die  with  them  ;" 
for,  take  them  all  in  all,  we  fear  that  "we  ne'er 
shall  look  upon  their  like  again."  The  religious 
instruction  of  children  has  not  been  overlooked. 
We  catechise  them  on  the  afternoon  of  each  Sat- 
urday ;  and  our  Sabbath-school  is  in  full  tide  of 
successful  operation — from  two  hundred  and  sev- 
enty to  three  hundred  children  in  attendance, 
under  the  care  of  an  efficient  corps  of  thirty-five 


172  Granville  Moody. 

teachers,  most  of  whom  are  truly  pious  and  enthu- 
siastically devoted  to  the  work. 

We  yet  look  for  a  large  harvest  from  this  fruit- 
ful field,  although  we  regret  that  so  few  children 
have  been  gathered  into  the  fold  of  Christ  during 
the  gracious  visitation  of  the  Church.  In  addi- 
tion to  our  Sabbath  services,  we  have  a  gen- 
eral class-meeting  on  Monday  evening,  preaching 
Wednesday  evening,  prayer-meeting  on  Friday 
evening  of  each  week,  all  of  which  are  well  at- 
tended ;  and  by  this  steady  drill  we  hope  to  train 
up  these  volunteers  to  be  intelligent,  consistent, 
and  efficient  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
With  increasing  confidence  in  the  heaven-honored 
union  of  ufree  grace  and  free  seats,"  and  all  the 
appliances  and  means  of  our  beloved  Methodism, 
as  set  forth  in  her  admirable  Discipline,  we  remain 
your  fellow-laborer  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

DEDICATION  AT  FULTON. 

We  had  the  pleasure  of  attending  the  dedication 
of  the  new  and  beautiful  chapel  in  Fulton,  of  which 
Rev.  G.  Moody  is  pastor.  The  corner-stone  was  laid 
about  June  ist.  Our  expectations  were  more  than 
realized ;  and  we  had  a  demonstration  of  the  benevo- 
lent enterprise  of  the  Fulton  Methodists,  than  whom 
a  more  united,  pious,  devoted,  and  liberal  member- 
ship can  not  be  found.  The  chapel  occupies  a  cen- 
tral and  commanding  position,  and  is  unsurpassed  for 
neatness  and  convenience  by  any  church  in  the  city. 
Though  large,  it  was  filled  to  overflowing.  . 

The   dedication  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  G. 


Reports  from  Various  Charges.       173 

W.  Walker,  from  Luke  i,  33,  which  was  listened  to 
with  great  interest;  and,  as  an  evidence  of  its  effect 
upon  the  hearers,  a  collection  was  taken  up  amounting 
to  one  thousand  dollars.  The  sermon  was  spoken  of 
as  one  of  Brother  Walker's  happiest  efforts.  In  the 
afternoon  an  appropriate  and  interesting  sermon  was 
preached  by  Rev.  J.  T.  Mitchell,  and  the  sacraments 
of  the  Church  were  administered  by  the  pastor.  Rev. 
W.  P.  Strickland  conducted  the  evening  services,  dur- 
ing which  the  Church  received  a  heavenly  baptism. 
It  was,  indeed,  a  time  of  refreshing  from  the  presence 
of  the  Iyord. 

Every  pious  heart  seemed  filled  to  overflowing, 
and  one  general  shout  of  praise  and  triumph  went  up 
to  God.  A  more  unequivocal  divine  approbation  we 
never  felt  or  witnessed.  Thirteen  persons,  seven  of 
whom  were  young  men  in  the  vigor  of  life,  presented 
themselves  for  membership.  The  language  of  the 
poet,  as  it  swelled  out  from  the  full  hearts  of  lion's 
worshipers  on  that  occasion,  never  appeared  more 
impressive : 

"These  temples  of  thy  grace, 
How  beautiful  they  stand, 
The  honor  of  our  native  place, 
The  bulwarks  of  our  land !" 

The  prospects  of  this  station  are  highly  flattering, 
and  we  anticipate  great  success  the  ensuing  confer- 
ence year.  Visitor. 

Cincinnati,  1844. 

METHODISM    IN   COLUMBUS. 

In  1845,  Granville  Moody  had  a  time  of  prosperity, 
and  at  the  end  of  his  first  year  reported  six  hundred 
and  forty-four  members.     He  led  in  the  effort  to  or- 


174  Granville  Moody. 

ganize  a  second  Church.  Mr.  William  Neil  gave  an 
eligible  lot ;  a  church  was  built,  and  christened  Wes- 
ley Chapel.  During  1846,  Brother  Moody  arranged  for 
the  division  of  Town  Street  membership  into  two 
bands,  representing  six  hundred  members  to  be  di- 
vided.— T.,  in  Western  Christian  Advocate. 

On  our  arrival  at  Columbus  at  eleven  o'clock  P.  M., 
July  29,  1845,  we  found  excellent  accommodations  at 
the  Neil  House,  the  mammoth  house  of  the  West — 
an  immense  pile  of  buildings,  overshadowing  all  others 
in  the  capital  of  our  State.  Mr.  Neil  has  lately  gen- 
erously donated  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  a 
lot  on  High  Street,  on  which  we  notice  the  founda- 
tions of  the  new  church,  so  much  needed  in  Colum- 
bus. We  pray  that  God  may  bless  him  and  his  family. 
This  is  true  patriotism.  "He  loveth  our  nation  and 
hath  built  us  a  synagogue,"  was  spoken  to  the  credit  of 
one  gf  old  time.  Before  we  had  finished  the  duties  of 
our  morning  habiliments  (which  do  not  require  much 
time  for  us),  our  old  friend  Moody  roused  us  by  his 
importunate  rap,  rap,  rap,  at  our  door,  and  insisted 
that  our  traveling  companion,  Brother  S.  Williams,^ 
Esq.,  and  myself  should  breakfast  at  the  parsonage. 
And  very  soon  we  found  ourselves  comfortably  seated 
in  the  parsonage  parlor,  and  greeted  so  heartily  by 
Sister  Moody  that  we  felt  ourself  entirely  at  home, 
enjoying  a  Methodist  preacher's  welcome.  Columbus 
contains  about  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  and  is  really 
a  thriving  place.  .  .  .  Brother  Moody's  labors 
have  been  greatly  blessed  during  the  last  year,  so  that, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  his  labors,  the  Church 
has  grown  in  grace  and  in  numbers. — Charles  Elliott, 
Editor  IV.  C.  Advocate. 


Reports  from  Various  Charges.       175 

Springfield,  March  ^,  J'^SJ- — The  present  con- 
ference year  in  Columbia  Street  charge,  as  the 
past,  has  been  marked  with  great  interest.  The 
Word  of  God,  which  we  have  been  permitted  to 
bear  to  this  people,  has  not  returned  void,  but 
has  accomplished  that  whereunto  it  was  sent. 
About  six  weeks  since,  we  noticed  special  indica- 
tions of  a  revival ;  the  faith  of  the  Church  waxed 
strong,  and  their  supplications  were  fervent,  im- 
portunate, and,  of  course,  effectual.  We  can  not 
say  there  was  no  excitement ;  this,  to  minds  con- 
cerned upon  subjects  of  such  solemnity,  sublimity, 
and  paramount  importance  as  religion  presents, 
were,  indeed,  impossible.  The  truths  of  revela- 
tion, applied  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  stirred  the  dan- 
gerous slumber  of  careless  sinners.  There  was  a 
deep  moving  of  the  mental  waters,  a  tumultuous 
invasion  of  conscience  by  the  lashing  waves  of 
conviction,  exhibiting,  in  Pentecostal  type,  the 
presence  and  power  of  the  Spirit.  We  know  that 
the  work  was  of  God,  that,  in  truth,  he  was  re- 
vealed in  solemn  majesty  and  matchless  grace,  and 
strong  hearts  bowed  at  his  presence ;  the  counte- 
nances of  the  people  seemed  to  gather  blackness  ; 
sinners  in  Zion  were  afraid  ;  fearfulness  surprised 
them,  while  their  hearts  meditated  terror,  and  every 
action  said:  "  Who  among  us  shall  dwell  with  the 
devouring  fire;  who  among  us  shall  dwell  with 
everlasting  burnings?"  The  altar  of  prayer  has 
been  thronged  with  penitent  persons;  last  Sab- 
bath day  more  than  forty  were  at  the  altar,  and 
in  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  thirty-five  kneeled 


176  Granville  Moody. 

at  the  favored  spot,  while  the  Church,  with  one 
accord,  surrounded  them,  as  with  a  wall  of  warm 
hearts  in  unison  of  prayer,  and  from  that  altar 
scores  have  arisen  to  rejoice  in  boundless  Mercy's 
pardoning  love. 

One  hundred  and  forty  have  been  added  to  the 
Church,  and  even  a  larger  number  have  chosen 
the  good  part  which  shall  not  be  taken  away  from 
them.  The  religious  influence  has  extended  into 
our  sister  Churches,  and  their  labors  are  being 
crowned  with  success.  Since  the  opening  of  the 
present  week,  there  are  encouraging  indications  in 
the  High  Street  charge,  under  Brother  Weakley's 
labors. 

Dayton,  December  14,  1854. — For  the  last  six 
weeks  the  spirit  of  grace  has  descended  on  Raper 
Chapel  charge,  like  showers  that  water  the  earth. 
We  found  that  the  Church  had  a  mind  to  work ; 
and  to  work  we  went,  the  Lord  working  with  us 
mightily,  and  we  are  graciously  permitted  to  an- 
nounce a  revival  in  progress.  There  has  been  a 
general  quickening  of  believers,  and  an  awaken- 
ing influence  upon  the  unregenerate,  with  an  in- 
tense desire  to  hear  the  word  of  life,  so  much  so, 
that  our  commodious  chapel  is  filled  to  overflow- 
ing, many  being  unable  to  find  seats.  The  altar 
of  prayer  has  been  approached,  night  after  night, 
by  penitent  souls,  and  many  have  found  peace  in 
believing.  The  cases  of  conversion  have  been  as 
strongly  marked  as  any  I  ever  witnessed.  Be- 
tween fifty  and  sixty  persons  have  been  added  to 
the   charge    since    the    first   of    November.     The 


Reports  from  Various  Charges.       177 

field  is  indeed  "  white  to  the  harvest,"  and  we 
hope  for  a  glorious  ingathering  to  this  fold  during 
the  winter. 

APPOINTMENTS  FROM  1833  TO  1882. 

1833-34. — Springfield  Circuit,  Joshua  Boucher 
preacher  in  charge ;  William  H.  Raper,  presiding 
elder. 

1834-35. — London  Circuit,  with  the  same  col- 
leagues. My  father,  William  Moody,  died  in  Bal- 
timore, Md.,  in  September  of  this  year. 

1835-36. — Fulton,  Leroy  Swormstedt,  presiding 
elder.  Favored  with  large  revival  influences  from 
on  high  during  this  year.  The  Lord  was  with  me 
day  by  day.  Glory  be  to  his  name!  January  19, 
1836,  married  Miss  Lucre tia  Elizabeth  Harris, 
eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  William  Hickman  Harris 
and  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  at  their  home,  four  miles 
east  of  Springfield,  Clarke  County,  Ohio,  Joshua 
Boucher  performing  the  nuptial  ceremony. 

1836-37. — Wesley  Chapel,  Cincinnati,  as  junior 
preacher ;  W.  H.  Raper  was  preacher  in  charge. 
We  enjoyed  great  success  in  the  charge.  J.  N. 
Maffitt  spent  one  month  with  us. 

1837-38. — Troy  Circuit,  J.  Boucher  in  charge  ; 
George  W.  Walker,  presiding  elder.  Had  a 
glorious  revival  of  religion,  and  large  ingather- 
ings in  Troy,  Palmer  Chapel,  New  Carlisle,  and 
Grafton  Chapel.  Elizabeth  Ellen  Moody  was 
born  August  17,  1838. 

1838-39. — Junior  preacher  on  Franklin  Circuit, 
with  George  W.  Maley,  preacher  in  charge.     We 


178  Granville  Moody. 

had  a  glorious  revival  in  Franklin — one  hundred 
and  twenty  added  to  the  Church,  and  many  addi- 
tions at  other  points.  Elizabeth  Eilen  Moody  died 
December  56,  1838. 

1839-40.  —  Miami  Circuit,  Levi  P.  Miller, 
preacher  in  charge.  Resided  in  Montgomery, 
Hamilton  County,  in  the  mansion  of  Alexander 
Duncan.  Clifford  NefF  Moody  was  born  in  Dr. 
Duncan's  house,  April  25,  1840.  Had  many  con- 
flicts with  Baptists  on  immersion,  and  with  Uni- 
versalists.  Glorious  meetings  in  many  places  on 
this  charge.     Zion  was  built  up  in  troublous  times. 

1840-42. — Oxford  Station,  Geo.  W.  Walker, 
presiding  elder.  Here  Dr.  Junkin  attacked  Meth- 
odism in  his  inaugural  address  as  president  of 
Miami  University.  I  replied,  and  a  controversy 
on  Calvinism  ensued,  which  proved  of  benefit  to 
Methodism. 

1842-43. — Lebanon  Station,  Geo.  W.  Walker, 
presiding  elder.  William  Hickman  Harris  Moody 
was  born  November  14,  1842.  Many  worthy  mem- 
bers in  this  Church. 

1843-45. — I  was  appointed  preacher  in  charge 
of  Fulton  Station ;  built  a  large  new  church  here, 
which  was  called  McKendree  Chapel.  We  were 
favored  with  a  glorious  revival  of  religion  these 
two  years. 

1845-47. — Columbus  Station,  Robert  O.  Spen- 
cer, presiding  elder.  Here  a  large  church  was 
built  during  my  pastorate.  We  had  a  gracious 
revival  of  religion,  and  many  members  were  added 
to  the  Church.     Glory  be  to  God. 


Reports  from  Various  Charges.       179 

1847-49. — Lancaster  Station,  John  W.  Clark, 
presiding  elder.  Harriet  Elizabeth  Moody  born 
November  5,  1847.  We  were  blessed  with  a  glo- 
rious revival,  and  many  joined  to  the  Lord  and 
to  the  Church. 

1849-51. — Zanesville,  Jacob  Young,  presiding 
elder.  Here  we  had  a  glorious  revival,  and  mul- 
titudes were  added  to  the  Church,  such  as  shall 
be  saved.     Glory  be  to  God ! 

1851-53. — Springfield,  Michael  Marlay,  presid- 
ing elder.  Mary  Ellen  Moody  born  March  10, 
1852.  Delegate*  to  the  General  Conference  held 
in  Boston,  May,  1852.     Glorious  revival  both  years. 

1853-55. — Raper  Chapel,  Dayton,  same  pre- 
siding elder.  Granville  Moody,  Jr.,  was  born 
July  2,  1854.  Here  revival  followed  revival,  and, 
the  Church,  walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and 
the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  was  edified  and 
multiplied. 

1855-57. — Xenia.  Here  we  were  again  blessed 
with  revival  influences,  and  the  Church  was  in- 
creased in  numbers  and  graces.  Charles  Payson 
Moody  was  born  May  20,  1857. 

1857-59. — Piqua.  Greene  Street  charge.  Very 
pleasant  and  profitable  years.  Revivals  both  win- 
ters. Delegate  to  the  General  Conference  held  at 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  i860. 

1859-60. — Urbana.  Enjoyed  a  great  revival 
here.  Rev.  (now  Bishop)  William  Taylor  spent  a 
month  with  me.  His  presence  was  a  great  bless- 
ing to  us  all. 

1860-61. — Cincinnati.     Morris  Chapel. 


180  Granville  Moody. 

In  1 86 1  I  was  transferred  into  the  volunteer 
army  of  the  United  States,  and  was  appointed  by 
the  special  agency  of  Governor  Dennison  to  the 
command  of  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment,  Ohio 
Volunteer  Infantry,  as  colonel,  with  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Alexander  Von  Schrader ;  and  Alexander 
S.  Ballard,  Major;  with  Captains  Thomas  C.  Bell, 
Stephen  A.  Bassford,  Samuel  T.  Owens,  Austin 
McDowell,  Joseph  Fisher,  Walter  Crook,  Albion 
W.  Bostwick,  Robert  P.  Findley,  Joseph  H. 
Ballard,  Patrick  Dwyer ;  Rev.  Samuel  Marshall, 
a  Baptist  clergyman,  as  chaplain/  Between  Chap- 
lain Marshall  and  myself  the  purest  and  strongest 
Christian  friendship  sprang  up,  and  grew  with  our 
growth  and  strengthened  with  our  strength ;  it 
was  like  to  that  of  David  and  Jonathan.  Blessed 
man  !  His  mortal  remains  -repose  in  the  cemetery 
near  Jamestown,  Ohio.     Peace  to  his  sleeping  dust ! 

In  May,  1863,  I  was  reluctantly  compelled  by 
severe  illness  to  resign  my  commission  as  colonel 
commanding  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment.  The 
surgeons  informed  me  that  my  case  was  hopeless 
if  I  remained  in  the  army. 

In  1864  I  was  appointed  presiding  elder  of  the 
Cincinnati  District,  as  successor  of  Rev.  John  T. 
Mitchell,  deceased.  Delegate  to  the  General  Con- 
ference held  in  Philadelphia  in  May,  1864. 

1865-67. — Piqua.  I  had  a  gracious  and  glori- 
ous revival  of  religion,  and  rebuilt  the  church 
edifice,  raising  the  whole  massive  structure  by 
screws  some  six  feet ;  adding  a  large  building  on 
the  rear  of  the  church. 


Reports  from  Various  Charges.       181 

Whilst  here,  my  daughter,  Clifford  Neff,  was 
married  to  Lieutenant-Commander  Joseph  Fyffe, 
of  the  United  States  Navy,  August  17,  1865. 

1867-69.  —  Ripley.  Had  a  glorious  revival 
here.  A  new  church  was  commenced,  which, 
when  finished,  cost  $32,000. 

1869-72. — Stationed  in  Newport,  Ky.  I  found 
the  new  Church  greatly  in  debt*  devised  a  suc- 
cessful plan  for  extinguishing  the  Church  debt, 
and  was  favored  with  several  distinct  revivals  of 
religion.  While  in  this  charge  my  daughter, 
Harriet  Elizabeth,  was  married  to  Mr.  O.  J.  Rowe, 
of  Binghamton,  N.  Y. 

1872-74. — York  Street,  Cincinnati.  In  this 
charge  were  many  of  the  excellent  of  the  earth. 

1874-78. — I  was  appointed  presiding  elder 
of  Ripley  District,  a  most  valuable  field  of  minis- 
terial labor.  We  were  highly  favored  with  times 
of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  and 
the  ingathering  of  hundreds  of  souls  into  the  fold 
of  Jesus.  In  this  broad  field  of  labor,  which  was 
one  hundred  miles  in  length  and  forty  miles 
broad,  there  was  not  one  mile  of  railway.  Dele- 
gate to  the  General  Conference  held  in  Baltimore 
in  May,  1876. 

Mary  Ellen,  our  third  daughter,  was  married 
to  Rev.  Professor  Hugh  Boyd,  of  Cornell  College, 
Mt.  Vernon,  la.,  August  20,  1874. 

Granville  Moody,  Jr.,  and  Miss  Jennie  Parkisson, 
only  daughter  of  Mr.  William  Kenton  Parkisson, 
of  Jasper  County,  Indiana,  were  married  by  me 
in  her  father's  residence,  January  19,  1876. 


182  Granville  Moody. 

1878-79. — Middletown.  I  here  found  an  ad- 
mirable, intelligent,  and  united  membership,  full 
of  faith,  hope,  and  love,  and  ready  for  every  good 
work.     Peace  be  to  this  Church  !     I  love  it  much. 

1879-81.  —  Hamilton.  This  charge  is  very 
large  in  membership,  and  I  sincerely  endeavored 
to  form  a  second  charge,  but  without  success. 

I  here  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Judge 
Hume  and  his  family.  They  very  frequently 
attended  my  ministry,  and  I  entertain  the  highest 
respect  for  them,  one  and  all.  He  was  a  decided 
Democrat,  and  I  was  a  decided  Republican ;  but 
our  friendship  was  like  unto  that  which  existed 
between  David  and  Jonathan.  At  the  last  con- 
ference session  held  in  Hamilton,  wife  and  self 
were  the  invited  guests  of  Judge  Hume,  and  a  most 
pleasant  week  we  spent  at  his  mansion.  God 
grant  us  a  happy  meeting  in  the  mansions  of  the 
skies ! 

Charles  Payson,  my  youngest  son,  and  Miss  Ida 
Parkisson,  daughter  of  Mr.  Addison  Parkisson,  all 
of  Jasper  County,  Ind.,  were  married  by  me  at 
the  residence  of  the  bride's  father,  September, 
17,  1879. 

1881-83. — Stationed  at  Jamestown.  My  health 
failing  in  the  last  third  of  my  second  conference 
year,  I  deemed  it  best  to  ask  the  conference  foe  a 
change  of  relation  from  that  of  effective  to  that 
of  superannuated. 

My  request  was  granted,  and  I  removed  to  Mt. 
Vernon,  Iowa,  to  reside  with  my  daughter  Mary 
and  her  husband,  Professor  Boyd. 


The  Preternatural.  183 


CHAPTER  XV. 

DREAMS,  PRESCIENCE,  AND  THE  PRETERNATURAL. 

AT  the  commencement  of  my  second  term  of 
pastoral  service  in  Springfield,  I  related  at 
the  breakfast-table  a  strange  dream  I  had  the 
night  before.  I  dreamed  that  I  had  preached  a 
sermon  to  the  Church  on  early  and  persistent 
sympathy  with  sinful  persons — the  aged,  the  mid- 
dle-aged, the  young — with  direct  and  special  efforts 
to  induce  them  to  think  upon  their  ways,  and 
make  haste  and  delay  not  the  great  task  of  repent- 
ance toward  God  ;  and  then  persistent  faith  in  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  "the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life."  I  asked  and  urged  sinful  persons  to  come 
to  the  altar  of  prayer,  saying,  with  David :  "I  will 
go  to  the  altar  of  God ;  I  will  wait  and  see  what 
he  will  say  to  me."  When  I  said,  "Shall  I  not 
this  evening  hear  some  one  say,  by  appropriate 
action,  if  not  in  words : 

'I  can  but  perish  if  I  go, 
I  am  resolved  to  try  ; 
For  if  I  stay  away  I  know, 
I  must  forever  die  ?' 

lo !  a  little  girl  of  twelve,  neatly  but  yet  poorly 
dressed,  came  forward  to  the  altar  and  knelt 
down.  The  membership,  generally,  took  up  their 
overcoats  and  wraps,  and  were  about  to  take  their 


184  Granville  Moody. 

departure,  leaving  the  poor  little  girl  at  the  altar 
of  prayer,  with  but  a  small  portion  of  the  Church 
to  remain  and  pray  with  and  for  her. 

I  noticed  the  movement,  and  expostulated  with 
them,  and  reminded  them  that  the  minimum  might 
become  the  maximum  if  they  stayed  and  prayed 
with  this  little  girl ;  and  reminded  them  that  they 
who  were  faithful  in  that  which  is  least,  would  as- 
suredly be  faithful  in  greater  things.  "  Come,  breth- 
ren and  sisters,"  I  said,  "stop  and  turn  to  God's 
altar,  and  mingle  your  tears  with  this  solitary 
mourner.  Christ  is  now  saying  to  us  :  '  He  that  is 
faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  him  ruler 
over  many  things.'  Come,  brethren  and  sisters, 
tarry  and  mingle  your  sympathies,  and  pour  out 
your  prayers  faithfully  with  this  one  child,  the 
first  to  seek  our  sympathies  and  ask  our  prayers. 
God  will  bless  your  labors  with  an  altar  crowded 
with  seekers  of  religion,  and  the  Church  shall 
right  speedily  be  called  upon  to  rejoice  over  souls 
renewed  and  sins  forgiven." 

In  my  dream  I  saw  the  whole  Church  return 
to  the  altar,  and  each  made  the  cause  of  the  little 
girl  his  own ;  and  speedily  the  loosened  current 
of  salvation  came  down  from  above.  The  little 
girl  was  converted,  and  the  whole  Church  was 
blessed.  A  great  revival  followed ;  scores  and 
hundreds  were  added  to  the  Church. 

I  awaked  from  my  slumbers,  and  lo  !  it  was  but 
a  dream.  My  family  and  Miss  Sarah  Y.  Millis 
noted  the  dream,  as  I  told  it,  with  interest  and 
queries  of  mind. 


The  Preternatural.  185 

Monday  evening  came  ;  the  meeting  was  large, 
and  the  foregoing  scenes  were  all  really  enacted 
with  wonderful  regularity.  The  youthful,  soli- 
tary mourner  was  at  the  altar;  the  Church  re- 
tired ;  the  pastor  halted  them,  repeating  the  fore- 
going expostulation  ;  they  returned  to  duty ;  the 
juvenile  penitent  found  acceptance,  verifying  the 
promise :  "  I  love  them  that  love  me,  and  they 
that  seek  me  early  shall  find  me."  The  next 
evening  there  were  six  at  the  altar,  the  third 
evening  nine,  the  fourth  thirteen;  and  so  on  till 
nearly  two  hundred  souls  had  fled  for  refuge  and 
laid  hold  on  the  hope  set  before  them  in  the  gospel. 
On  returning  home  that  first  Monday  evening 
Miss  Millis  and  my  wife  accosted  me  on  entering 
the  parsonage,  saying:  "Your  dream,  related  at 
the  breakfast-table,  has  been  fulfilled  literally. 
You  told  this  morning  just  what  we  saw  and 
heard  at  Church  this  evening." 

The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that 
fear  him,  and  he  will  show  them  his  covenant. 
Amen. 

While  I  was  the  pastor  of  York  Street  Church, 
Cincinnati,  in  1872-3,  a  singular  and  unaccount- 
able occurrence  took  place.  I  dreamed  that  Mrs. 
Williams,  wife  of  Professor  W.  G.  Williams,  of 
the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  Delaware,  O.,  had 
died  the  past  night  in  Delaware.  At  the  break- 
fast-table I  told  my  wife  and  daughter  Mary  that 
I  dreamed  I  was  going  along  the  street  in  front 
of  the  residence  of  Professor  Williams,  in  Dela- 
ware, and  saw  Professors  Williams  and  Whitlock 

16 


1 86  Granville  Moody. 

walking  with  locked  arms,  and  looking  very  sad. 
I  accosted  them  with  the  phrase:  "Why,  you  are 
out  early  this  morning."  "  Yes,"  replied  Professor 
Whitlock,  "we  are  astir  early.  Professor  Will- 
iams's wife  died  this  morning,  and  we  are  astir  early 
to  arrange  for  the  burial."  I  stood  astonished, 
and  asked  in  reference  to  her  death  and  disease, 
and  said  to  Professor  Williams:  "I  sympathize 
with  you,  Professor,  but  we  do  not  sorrow  as 
others  who  have  no  hope ;  for  if  we  believe  that 
Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so  also  them  which 
sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him.  The 
dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first ;  so  shall  we  ever  be 
with  the  Lord."  My  daughter  said:  "I  will 
go  around  to  Mr.  Davis's  [the  brother  of  Mrs. 
Williams],  and  see  if  tjiey  have  heard  anything 
from  her."  She  went,  and  at  the  door  of  the 
brother's  house  met  a  messenger  with  a  telegram 
in  his  hand,  announcing  the  death  as  having  oc- 
curred the  past  night.  Mary  returned  with  the 
intelligence,  and  I  repaired  to  the  residence  of  the 
brother,  and  narrated  my  dream  as  I  had  to  my 
wife  and  family. 

During  my  pastorate  in  1850,  I  became  ac- 
quainted with  Squire  A.  His  wife  and  three 
daughters  were  members  of  my  charge.  He  had 
been  a  magistrate  of  the  city  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  prominent  as  a  politician.  Going  down 
Main  Street  the  day  after  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise,  I  met  the  stalwart  squire  at 
his  office  door,  and  he  accosted  me  with  the  in- 
quiry, "What  do  you  think  of  the  abrogation  of 


The  Preternatural.  187 

the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the  Dred  Scott 
Decision?"  I  replied,  disapproving  both,  and 
added:  "'Whom  the  gods  intend  to  destroy  they 
first  make  mad.'  This  is  the  beginning  of  the 
end  of  the  huge  system  of  American  slavery." 
"Why,  those  are  my  sentiments  precisely,  par- 
son ;  give  me  your  hand."  I  found  myself  alone 
with  this  singular  and  eminent  man  of  the  law 
and  acknowledged  leader  of  his  party.  He  was 
sixty-eight  years  old,  had  chronic  asthma  and 
enlargement  of  the  heart.  A  sudden  concern 
came  over  me  like  a  divine  impression  of  duty, 
and  I  said :  "  Squire,  what  about  your  soul  and 
its  safety  and  preparation  for  the  change  of  death  ?" 
"Well,  parson,  I  don't  know  much  about  those 
questions  ;  indeed  I  do  n't."  "  Well,  you  are  the 
main  one  to  know  the  things  that  make  for 
your  peace.  One  of  these  days  your  laboring 
lungs  will  subside,  and  if  I  attend  your  obsequies 
what  can  I  say  about  your  soul  and  your  future 
condition?"  "O,"  said  the  magistrate,  "you  will 
have  nothing  to  do  on  that  occasion  ;  for  years 
before  I  came  to  this  city  I  selected  Rev.  Samuel 
Cox  to  attend  my  obsequies."  "Well,  I  am  glad 
that  you  have  taken  forethought  about  your  fu- 
neral, and  selected  your  minister.  But  what  will 
he  be  warranted  to  say  on  that  occasion?  Let  us 
attend  those  obsequies ;  let  us  attend  that  not 
far-off  funeral,  and  see  and  hear.  Behold  that 
gloomy  hearse,  with  nodding  plumes,  betokening 
death's  victory.  See  the  long,  lingering  array  of 
carriages,  occupying  two  full  squares !     Let  us  go 


188  Granville  Moody. 

into  the  house,  not  by  the  front  entrance,  that  is 
blocked  by  the  crowd,  but  by  the  side  avenue 
approach.  We  are  in:  all  the  avenues  are  occu- 
pied, all  spaces  filled.  A  minute's  long  lapse  of 
silence !  We  look  around.  There,  nearest  to  the 
coffin,  sits  the  lonely  widow,  and  your  daughters 
and  their  husbands  in  line  about  it.  There  are 
your  friends  in  the  legal  and  medical  profes- 
sions, and  civic  officers,  merchants,  bankers,  men, 
women,  and  children,  all  grave-looking  and  mute 
as  the  obelisk.  Parson  Cox  arises  and  says  :  '  Let 
us  join  in  singing, 

"  Hark !  from  the  tombs,  a  doleful  sound ; 
My  ears,  attend  the  cry  !"  ' 

Then,  after  prayer,  with  open  Bible  in  hand,  he 
reads  Bccl.  xii,  5.  He  speaks  of:  1.  Man's  death; 
2.  The  consequences  of  death  ;  3.  The  preparation 
needed  for  a  safe  and  happy  departure:  then  he 
follows  with  personal  remarks, — The  deceased  has 
lived  to  nearly  the  limit  of  human  existence.  He 
has  lived  in  our  midst,  as  a  citizen,  to  old  age. 
He  was  a  public  officer  of  ability  and  worth.  His 
family  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  He  was  not  in  communion  with  any 
branch  of  Christ's  Church.  This  we  deeply  re- 
gret. We  know  that  he  was  lovingly  called  to  a 
profession  of  godliness,  but  he  failed  to  make  such 
profession ;  and  fidelity  compels  us  to  say  that  he 
never  gave  evidence  of  his  faith  in  Christ,  nor  his 
hope  of  heaven,  and  thus  he  passed  away  from 
us  without  making  any  confession  of  personal 
faith  in   Christ  or  hope   in  God.     My  friends,  let 


The  Preternatural.  189 

us  imitate  all  that  was  praiseworthy  in  our  de- 
parted friend,  and  avoid  all  that  was  the  opposite 
in  his  career,  and  timely  flee  for  refuge,  and  lay 
hold  on  the  hope  that  is  now  set  before  us,  by 
faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  our  Savior.  And  so  ends 
the  scene  at  the  house. 

"Now,  suppose  Brother  Cox  should  say :  'We 
are  happy  to  be  permitted  to  say  that,  so  long 
before  his  death,  he  made  public  profession  of  "  re- 
pentance towards  God,  and  faith  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. "  On  such  a  date  he  sought  refuge 
in  the  Church,  by  joining  it  in  full  sincerity,  and 
continued  onward  and  upward  in  a  course  of  pro- 
gressive holiness  and  hope,  till  he  "  passed  through 
glory's  morning  gate  and  entered  paradise."  '  How 
glorious  would  such  a  close  of  life  appear! — like 
the  morning-star,  which  goes  not  down,  but  melts 
away  in  the  light  of  heaven.  Would  not  that  be 
a  glorious  consummation,  devoutly  to  be  wished?" 

He  replied:  "What  Church  shall  I  join?" 
"Why,"  said  I,  "take  your  choice.  There  is 
the  Methodist  Church."  "O,  that  is  too  far 
away  from  my  home ;  it  would  tire  me  out  to 
walk  so  far."  "  Well,  join  the  Presbyterian 
Church."  "  What !  and  climb  that  long  flight  of 
steps,  and  listen  to  Calvinism,  which  teaches  me 
that  only  the  elect  get  religion?  They  get  it  be- 
cause they  can  't  help  it.  If  they  get  it,  they  never 
lose  it ;  if  they  lose  it,  they  never  had  it ;  and  if 
they  get  it,  they  do  n't  know  it,  for  they  only  hope 
they  have  got  it.  No  ;  it  is  a  bundle  of  contradic- 
tions ;  I  would  not  be  bothered  with   its   absurdi- 


190  Granville  Moody. 

ties."  "Well,  there  is  the  Baptist  Church."  "No, 
sir,  never.  I  should  have  all  the  crudities  of  Calvin- 
ism to  swallow,  and  then  have  to  be  ducked  down 
in  the  river,  or  in  a  tank  to  be  baptized.  I  believe 
in  baptism  by  aspersion.  The  true  baptism  comes 
down  from  above."  "Well,  then,  here  is  the 
Episcopal  Church."  "  Pshaw  !  That  is  only  a  few 
removes  from  popery.  I  could  almost  as  well  take 
stock  in  popery  at  once.  I  guess  I  am  the  first 
man  that  has  ever  heard  his  own  funeral  sermon 
preached  to  him  before  his  death." 

I  replied  :  "  The  prudent  man  foreseeth  the  evil, 
and  hideth  himself.  Christ  received,  confessed, 
and  obeyed,  will  be  to  you  wisdom,  righteousness, 
sanctification,  and  redemption." 

He  went  down  street  and  told  his  friends  that  I 
had  preached  his  funeral  sermon  to  him  that  morn- 
ing. Time  rolled  away,  and  brought  autumn  and 
winter  in  their  season.     One  Sabbath  morning  his 

married  daughter,  Mrs.  ,  came  to  town  in  her 

carriage,  and  put  up  at  her  father's  home  as  usual, 
and  he  went  out  and  took  the  horse  to  the  stable. 
After  sermon  and  class-meeting,  she  returned  to 
dinner,  and  shortly  after  dinner  asked  her  father 
to  get  her  horse  and  carriage.  He  did  so,  and  saw 
her  get  in  the  carriage  and  drive  away.  He  went 
into  the  house,  and  sat  down  in  a  large  chair,  say- 
ing: "Daughter  must  bring  some  one  with  her 
that  can  harness  her  horse  for  her,  for  I  can  not  do 
it ;  it  is  too  much  for  my  feebleness.  I  can  not  do 
it  again."  Uttering  these  words  he  struggled  for 
breath,  fell  forward,  and  died. 


The  Preternatural.  191 

Great  excitement  prevailed.  A  costly  prepara- 
tion for  the  funeral  followed,  and  on  Tuesday  the 
funeral  took  place.  I  went  to  the  front  door,  but 
it  was  obstructed  by  the  crowd  inside.  I  was  ad- 
mitted at  the  side  entrance.  Strangely  every 
thing  looked,  as  if  I  had  seen  and  heard  all  before. 
Parson  Cox  arose,  shook  his  head  violently,  as 
was  his  wont,  read  the  last  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes, 
then  gave  out  the  hymn,  "  Hark!  from  the  tombs  a 
doleful  sound,"  and  announced  as  his  text,  "  Man 
goeth  to  his  long  home,  and  the  mourners  go 
about  the  streets !"  Then  he  spoke  as  already  de- 
scribed, word  for  word.  Sentence  after  sentence 
were  uttered  just  as  I  had  used  them  months  be- 
fore in  my  office-talk  with  the  deceased.  It 
seemed  like  an  echo  of  the  language  used  by  me ; 
or,  rather,  the  very  words  I  employed  so  long 
before  were  spoken  by  Brother  Cox  at  this  funeral 
service  with  singular  exactness.  I  was  impressed, 
astonished,  alarmed  at  their  utter  identity,  as  so 
singularly  reproduced  by  Brother  Cox,  though  he 
was  not  present  at  the  office,  nor  had  I  in  any  way 
communicated  the  conversation  to  him.  Brother 
Cox  called  on  me  to  close  the  service  with  prayer, 
which  I  .did.  The  procession  was  formed,  and  we 
deposited  the  massive  coffin  in  its  last  resting- 
place,  with  the  formula  of  the  Burial  Service. 

Let  us  so  live  that  we  may  depart  this  life  as 
the  setting  sun  disappears  through  a  radiant  sun- 
set, and  pass  the  portals  of  immortality  full-orbed, 
in  glorious  effulgence. 

While  I  was  commandant  at  Camp  Chase,  four 


192  Granville  Moody. 

miles  west  of  Columbus,  O.,  the  following  occur- 
rence took  place,  inexplicable  without  providential 
action.  A  high  officer  in  the  general  government 
appeared  one  afternoon  at  head-quarters,  and  spent 
a  pleasant  social  hour.  I  had  just  received  by  ex- 
press, in  a  nice  round  cheese-box  twenty  inches 
diameter,  a  fragrant  and  luscious  loaf-cake,  thickly 
covered  over  with  frosting,  and  "  E  Pluribus  Unum  " 
in  raised  and  ornamental  letters  across  the  center. 
It  came  from  a  lady  in  La  Porte,  Ind.,  the  wife  of 
the  post-quartermaster  of  Camp  Chase,  between 
whom  and  myself  an  acquaintance  had  ripened 
into  warmest  friendship,  and  his  wife  had  sent  me 
this  luxurious  pound-cake.  I  gave  General  B. 
the  history  of  the  cake,  and  said,  "  We  will  now 
pay  our  compliments  to  the  kind  benefactress,  and 
try  her  fine  cake ;"  and  we  were  soon  enjoying  it, 
when  suddenly  an  urgent  impression  cafhe  upon 
my  mind  in  these  words,  "Go  immediately  to 
Prison  No.  3  ;  you  are  needed  there."  I  asked  the 
general  to  excuse  me,  saying  :  "  I  must  go  to  prison 
No.  3.  Please  remain  in  the  office ;  I  will  be  back 
in  fifteen  minutes.  Enjoy  the  cake.  I  feel  that  I 
must  be  there  immediately." 

I  left,  and  hurried  over  the  walk  to  the  prison, 
entered  the  office,  and  went  into  the  inner  office, 
where  a  door-keeper  is  always  on  duty.  "  How 
are  you  Mr.  D. ;  is  all  well  here  ?"  "  Yes,  sir,  all  is 
well."  At  that  moment  a  rap  was  heard  on  the  side 
of  the  prison-door.  The  officer  went  to  the  door, 
and  hailed,  "  Who  comes  there  ?"  The  answer  was 
given,  "John  Z.,  a  stationery-peddler,  with  a  pass." 


The  Preternatural.  193 

The  door  was  opened,  and  a  fine-looking  man, 
with  manners  far  superior  to  those  which  belong 
to  an  ordinary  stationery-peddler,  appeared  with  a 
nice  suit  of  entirely  new  clothes  upon  him,  hair 
closely  cropped,  clean-shaved;  a  new  basket  on 
his  arm  filled  with  letter-paper,  envelopes,  stamps, 
pens,  ink,  and  red  blotting-paper,  stamped  envel- 
opes, a  postal  almanac,  and  regular  outfit  of  a 
small  peddling  stationer. 

I  examined  all  these  things  hurriedly,  and  he 
remarked:  " These  things  are  salable  to  prisoners, 
you  know;"  and  he  thrust  forth  a  pass  into  prisons 
in  Camp  Chase,  signed  by  David  Tod,  Governor  of 
Ohio.  I  examined  the  pass  and  found,  "  If  approved 
by  Colonel  Granville  Moody,  Commander  of  U.  S. 
Camp  Chase,  near  Columbus,  Ohio."  Said  I: 
"Why  was  not  this  pass  signed  by  Colonel 
Moody?"  His  reply  was  so  hurried  and  confused 
that  he  betrayed  himself.  I  said  :  "  You  are  under 
arrest,  sir."  I  called  a  guard,  and  marched  him 
down  to  head-quarters,  where  he  was  incarcerated 
in  a  ten  by  twelve  lock-up.  I  sent  the  prison's 
head  man,  who  called  the  roll  of  prisoners  every 
morning  and  evening,  to  see  and  examine  the  man. 
He  soon  after  came  out  smiling,  and  said  :  "  Colonel, 
that  man  is  General  L.,  the  worst  man  to  have 
gotten  out  for  all  the  country.  It  is  well  you 
arrested  him  as  you  did."  My  friend,  whom 
I  had  left  in  charge  of  the  cake,  was  delighted 
with  my  adventure  and  success,  when  he  learned 
the  rank  of  the  officer  whose  escape  came  so  near 
proving   an    accomplished    fact.     I    went    to    the 

17 


194  Granville  Moody. 

little  lock-up,  and  addressed  my  prisoner,  and  re- 
marked that  Burns  had  said  long  before : 

"  •  For  care  and  trouble  set  your  mind, 
Even  when  your  end's  attained; 
For  all  your  schemes  may  come  to  naught, 
When  every  nerve  is  strained.' 

There  is  strategy  in  war,  and  I  will  have  to  keep 
you  in  this  small  prison  till  next  Thursday,  when 
I  will  go  with  you  to  Johnson's  Island,  near  San- 
dusky, where  you  will  have  the  benefit  of  lake  air." 
He  expostulated  in  a  gentlemanly  way,  and  asked 
me  to  suppose  a  change  of  cases — myself  in  a  South- 
ern prison,  making  every  effort  for  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  "  Yes,  yes,"  I  said  ; 
"  but  there  's  many  a  slip  between  the  cup  and  the 
lip ;  and  I  think  it  best  for  yourself,  and  for  us,  to 
keep  you  quiet  till  times  change  for  the  better 
for  all  parties  in  the  premises."  "Pray  tell  me, 
Colonel,"  he  said,  "how  you  happened  to  come  into 
Prison  No.  3  just  at  that  instant  of  time?"  I 
could  have  told  him,  but  declined. 

General  B.,  whom  I  left  with  the  cake,  so 
unceremoniously,  deemed  the  impression  on  my 
mind,  so  immediate  and  peremptory  and  definite, 
a  wonder  of  wonders,  an  insoluble  myth.  But  "  a 
God  admitted,  every  mystery  ends."  "To  God's 
presence  oft  we  owe  the  presence  of  our  mind." 

While  I  was  pastor  of  Morris  Chapel,  Cin- 
cinnati, there  was  a  man  whom  we  will  call 
Blank,  living  in  the  domestic  department  of  the 
Baptist  Theological  Seminary  at  Fairmount.  It 
was  summer,  and  the  students  had  left  college  for 


The  Preternatural.  195 

their  vacation,  and  the  premises  were  in  charge  of 
Brother  Blank  and  his  wife.  There  were  in  the 
family  three  children,  and  the  father  of  Mr.  Blank, 
whose  years  were  marked  with  the  infirmities  of  an 
octogenarian,  and  he  was  an  object  of  incessant 
care.  It  was  during  the  opening  months  of  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion,  when  there  was  great  strin- 
gency in  financial  affairs.  One  Saturday  I  was 
specially  engaged  in  completing  my  sermons  for 
Sabbath,  and  hastened  immediately  after  dinner 
to  my  study,  and  seized  my  pen,  when  I  was  ar- 
rested by  an  imperative  impression,  saying  to  me : 
"  Go  to  Fairmount  and  pastorally  visit  your 
Brother  Blank,  as  he  is  in  needy  circumstances." 
The  "  still,  small  voice  "  spoke  so  positively  that  I 
was  greatly  impressed.  But  as  I  was  so  much 
behind-hand  in  pulpit  preparation,  I  resumed  my 
sermon,  and  the  words  were  precisely  and  emphat- 
ically repeated.  I  became  excited,  and  arose  from 
the  desk  and  looked  around  inquiringly,  when  the 
direction  was  clearly  repeated  the  third  time,  and 
I  put  on  my  coat  and  started  to  Fairmount.  I 
went  up  the  steep  of  the  hill,  where  the  college 
stood,  with  its  impracticable  task  of  teaching  that 
baptizo  invariably  means  "  immerse."  I  had 
walked  two  miles  that  sultry  Saturday  afternoon, 
berating  myself  for  such  a  wild-goose  chase  from 
such  an  ambiguous  oracle.  I  went  into  the  spa- 
cious hall,  and  knocked  at  several  doors,  but  with 
no  response  till  I  came  to  the  last  door  on  the 
right  hand,  which  was  opened  to  my  knock.  I 
found  Sister  Blank  and  her   three   children  hale 


196  Granville  Moody. 

and  hearty,  and,  at  the  further  end  of  the  neatly 
furnished  room,  sat  in  repose  a  white-haired,  ven- 
erable man,  who,  rising,  addressed  me  with  native 
civility,  and  asked  me  to  be  seated.  Everything 
was  tidy,  and  nothing  in  the  appearance  of  the 
apartment  betrayed  any  symptom  of  want  or  emer- 
gency. After  an  hour's  conversation,  in  which 
there  was  no  expression  of  need,  want,  or  distress 
that  I  could  aid,  and  after  prayer  with  and  for 
them  and  the  absent  head  of  the  interesting  circle, 
I  arose  and  bade  them  good-bye. 

Sister  Blank  followed  me  into  the  hall,  and 
out  of  the  south  door  on  to  the  grassy  plat,  and  be- 
neath the  deep  shade  of  the  trees,  and  as  we  walked 
along  I  said:  "Sister  Blank,  has  Brother  Blank 
work  nowadays,  and  is  he  getting  along  comfort- 
ably in  these  trying  times?"  She  burst  into  tears 
and  said:  "O,  Brother  Moody,  these  are  the  hard- 
est times  we  ever  passed  through.  Mr.  Blank  is 
in  great  distress.  This  morning  our  grocer  told 
him  that  he  must  settle  his  bill,  as  he  could  not 
trust  him  any  longer.  Then  he  went  to  another 
grocer  and  asked  for  credit  for  a  bill  of  groceries, 
and  then  to  a  third,  and  was  refused  credit  in 
every  case.  It  is  so  hard.  My  children  need  food, 
and  my  father-in-law,  now  eighty  years  of  age,  is 
entirely  dependent  upon  us,  and  we  have  not  the 
means  to  get  supper  for  the  family  this  evening ; 
and  what  shall  we  do  for  all  of  the  Sabbath-day? 
We  have  no  food  in  the  house.  I  am  so  ashamed 
to  speak  of  these  things,  but  I  can  not  help  it. 
My  husband  is  nearly  distracted,  and  greatly  dis- 


The  Preternatural.  197 

couraged.  I  should  not  have  told  you  these  things, 
but  you  asked  me  so  plainly,  that  I  could  only  tell 
you  all  as  I  have."  She  hardly  suppressed  her 
sobbing  with  the  narration  of  her  heart-felt  woes. 

I  felt  for  my  pocket-book,  as  with  weeping,  I 
said  :  "  I  see  through  it  all ;  I  do,  I  do.  How  much 
will  suffice  you  till  next  week?"  She  said  :  "  O, 
I  do  not  know." 

I  emptied  my  pocket-book,  which  contained 
only  seven  dollars,  and  gave  them  to  her.  She  was 
so  relieved  and  grateful  and  thankful,  that  if  I  had 
had  twenty  dollars  she  would  have  assuredly  got 
them  all.  I  told  her  to  tell  her  husband  to  come 
to  the  parsonage  at  seven  o'clock  Monday  morn- 
ing, and  I  would  try  to  get  him  employment 
where  he  would  get  good  wages.  I  went  down  the 
declivity  with  a  glad  heart  and  free,  rejoicing  that 
God  is  so  near  to  us,  and  that  he  had  so  won- 
drously  revealed  himself  to  me  in  my  study,  say- 
ing audibly  to  my  spiritual  ear  or  my  actual 
hearing,  as  the  reader  may  choose,  giving  the 
knowledge  of  immediate  duty  to  relieve  one  of  his 
suffering  saints. 

The  next  day  the  father,  mother,  and  two 
children  attended  Morris  Chapel,  the  parents  look- 
ing very  solemn  and  thoughtful.  After  the  bene- 
diction, I  went  from  the  pulpit  to  the  pew  where 
they  were  waiting  to  speak  with  me.  As  I  shook 
hands  with  them  Brother  Blank  asked  how  I 
knew  of  his  embarrassment,  and  how  it  was  that 
I  came  so  opportunely  to  his  house  the  day  be- 
fore.    I  told  him  as  written  above,  and  he  said : 


198  Granville  Moody. 

"And  is  that  so,  Brother  Moody?  Does  God  take 
such  knowledge  and  care  of  us  as  that?  I  shall 
never  doubt  his  loving-kindness  any  more."  I 
responded : 

"Just  in  the  last  distressing  hour 
The  Lord  proclaims  his  saving  power ; 
The  mount  of  danger  is  the  place 
Where  we  shall  see  surprising  grace." 

Next  morning  he  came  to  the  parsonage.  I 
told  him  to  cheer  up  and  look  bright,  for  God  had 
singularly  stirred  me  up  in  his  behalf,  and  a  good 
beginning  is  encouraging  to  expect  a  glorious 
ending.  I  introduced  him  to  Brother  Royer,  who 
said  he  could  not  take  another  hand,  as  he  had  dis- 
missed ten  last  Saturday  night,  and  should  dismiss 
fifteen  or  twenty  more  by  next  Saturday  night.  We 
went  up-stairs  to  see  his  invalid  wife.  She  listened 
with  interest  to  my  recital  of  the  case,  and  handed 
me  five  dollars  for  Mrs.  Blank.  When  I  told  her 
that  her  husband  could  not  employ  my  man  in 
his  factory,  she  motioned  me  to  go  into  the  front 
room.  I  soon  heard  a  loving  and  lively  contro- 
versy about  employing  Mr.  Blank.  Presently  he 
came  into  the  front  room,  saying :  "  My  wife  has 
got  her  head  set  on  my  employing  your  man  in  the 
factory.  Come,  let  us  go  down  and  see  the  foreman, 
and  find  out  what  can  be  done."  He  reported  a 
man  going  into  the  army  the  next  day,  and  told 
me  to  send  Mr.  Blank  to  fill  his  place.  He  worked 
a  year  in  the  factory,  then  joined  my  regiment, 
the  Seventy-fourth  Ohio  Infantry,  did  good  serv- 
ice as  an  aid  to  the  physicians  and  surgeons,  and 


The  Preternatural.  199 

was  then  placed  in  command  of  a  colored  regi- 
ment as  its  colonel.  He  went  to  the  field,  did 
good  service  for  his  country,  and  returned  to 
the  peaceful  walks  of  life  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  war. 


2oo  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

FURTHER  INCIDENTS  OF  MINISTERIAL  LIFE. 

DURING  my  pastorate  in  Zanesville  a  young 
Frenchman,  a  Roman  Catholic,  became  in- 
terested in  a  young  lady,  a  member  of  my  charge, 
attended  Church  services  with  her,  and  at  length 
called  on  me  to  perform  the  marriage  ceremony 
at  the  parsonage.  About  six  weeks  afterward 
he  came  to  my  study  and  made  known  that  the 
current  of  true  love  had  not  flowed  as  it  com- 
menced.    He  said : 

"  Reverend  sir,  I  want  to  talk  with  you  a  little. 
If  you  came  to  my  shop  [he  was  a  journeyman 
bootmaker],  and  engaged  my  services  to  make  you 
a  pair  of  boots,  and  I  made  them,  and  in  a  few 
weeks  they  ripped,  the  sole  from  the  upper,  and 
you  returned  them,  I  would,  without  delay,  take 
the  boots  and  mend  the  rent." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  I,  "that  would  be  only  fair, 
as  I  should  have  bought  the  boots  for  service." 

"That  is  right,  as  you  say,"  he  answered. 
"Now,  you  may  remember  that,  six  or  seven 
weeks  ago,  I  employed  you  to  marry  me  and  Miss 
Elizabeth  A.  I  was  greatly  pleased  with  her  for 
about  three  weeks.  We  took  a  small  but  neat 
house,  which  I  furnished  comfortably  and  well. 
She  soon  began  to  neglect  her  house  and  personal 


Further  Incidents.  201 

appearance.  I  go  home  to  dinner,  and  she  is  at 
her  mother's.  I  find  the  house  untidy ;  there  will 
be  no  fire ;  and  when  I  have  taken  a  fellow- work- 
man home  with  me  to  dinner,  we  have  found  the 
house  unswept,  the  bed  unmade,  and  her  clothes 
slatternly  upon  her.  I  have  been  mortified  by 
her  appearance  and  the  condition  of  the  house ; 
and  when  I  spoke  to  her  about  it,  she  an- 
swered me  shortly,  and  threatened  to  go  home — 
and  actually  did  go  to  her  mother's.  Now,  sir, 
what  shall  I  do  ?  I  am  disappointed  very  much,  I 
assure  you,  and  come  seeking  your  advice  and 
agency  in  the  case." 

I  asked  him  if  he  loved  her,  and  he  said  with 
all  his  heart,  and  that  if  she  would  do  as.  she  did 
at  first,  he  would  be  the  happiest  of  men. 

"Well,  well,"  said  I,  uyou  come  here  this 
afternoon  at  half-past  two  o'clock.  I  will  see  her 
and  have  her  here  to  meet  you.  We  will  act  and 
hope  for  the  best,  and  may  be  we  can  get  your 
ripped  boot  mended." 

I  went  right  away  to  her  mother's  house,  and 
found  her  in  great  distress.  I  told  her  kindly  of 
his  complaints.  She,  with  tears,  confessed  her 
fault.  Her  mother  seconded  all  my  remarks,  and 
wondered  if  he  would  take  her  back.  I  assured 
her  that  if  she  would  promise  better  behavior  he 
would  receive  her  graciously,  and  be  a  loving 
husband  to  her.  This  was  like  good  news  from  a  far 
country,  and  she  promised  thorough  amendment. 
I  arranged  for  her  to  come  to  the  parsonage  at 
two  o'clock  P.  M.     She  came,  and  I  left  her  in 


202  Granville  Moody. 

the  parlor  with  my  faithful  wife,  who  counseled 
her  wisely  and  lovingly.  At  half-past  two  o'clock 
the  door-bell  rang.  I  went  gladly  to  the  door, 
and  there  was  my  Frenchman,  who  asked  eagerly 
if  his  wife  was  there.  I  took  him  into  the  parlor. 
He  shook  hands  with  his  wife,  who  seemed  very 
glad  to  meet  him.  He  was  as  polite  as  the  veriest 
Frenchman.  I  said:  "Let  us  pray."  We  all 
knelt  down,  and  I  led  in  prayer ;  and  then  called 
on  Mrs.  Moody  to  pray  for  the  newly  married 
couple.  She  prayed,  with  nicest  discrimination 
and  tenderness  and  hope,  for  a  reunion.  We 
arose  to  our  feet  bettered  by  God's  answer  to  our 
well-meant  endeavors  to  restore  peace  to  these 
disturbed  hearts.  "Now,"  said  I,  "Mr.  G.,  you 
will  open  the  way  in  this  effort  at  reconciliation 
by  telling  us  all  the  ills  of  these  mishaps."  He 
proceeded  very  carefully,  and  with  tearful  ten- 
derness, and  she  assented  to  what  he  said.  Then 
she,  with  womanly  sweetness,  confessed  her  err- 
ings,  asked  his  pardon,  and  promised  amendment 
for  the  future.  I  rejoiced  at  the  prospect  of  a 
peaceful  settlement,  and  told  them  to  stand  up 
and  be  married  over  again.  I  went  through  the 
entire  ritual,  making  them  repeat  after  me:  "I, 
M,  take  thee,  N,  to  be  my  wedded  wife,  to  have 
and  to  hold  from  this  day,  forward;  for  better,  for 
worse ;  for  richer,  for  poorer ;  in  sickness  and  in 
health,  to  love  and  to  cherish  till  death  do  us  part, 
according  to  God's  holy  ordinance ;  and  thereto  I 
pledge  thee  my  troth."  "  I,  N,  take  thee,  M,  to 
be  my  wedded  husband,  to  have  and  to  hold  from 


Further  Incidents.  203 

this  day  forward,  for  better,  for  worse;  for  richer, 
for  poorer ;  in  sickness  and  in  health,  to  love, 
cherish,  and  obey  till  death  do  ns  part,  according 
to  God's  holy  ordinance ;  and  thereto  I  give  thee 
my  troth." 

Another  prayer  followed — God's  pardon  and 
blessing  were  implored.  They  were  doubly  mar- 
ried, under  better  auspices.  We  arose.  They 
mutually  kissed  each  other.  I  pronounced  the 
apostolic  benediction,  and  they  went  forth  to  a 
newness  of  life  in  the  holy  bands  of  matrimony — 
she  a  better  wife,  he  a  better  husband.  They 
lived  a  happier  life  than  either  of  them  had 
dreamed  before. 

This  bride  was  a  daughter  of  a  widow,  who 
had  spoiled  her  by  indulgence  in  the  careless 
habits  of  a  listless  life,  which  ill  qualified  her  for 
the  grave  realities  of  a  wife,  and  stewardess  of 
family  obligations.     Truly, 

"  The  kindest  and  the  happiest  pair 
Have  oft  occasion  to  forbear, 
And  something,  every  day  they  live, 
To  pity,  and  perhaps  forgive." 

We  take  the  following  incident  concerning  the 
"  Cowhiding  of  a  Minister,"  from  the  Columbian 
and  Great  West.  We  give  the  story  as  there 
written : 

"  The  incident  we  are  about  to  relate,  occurred  a 
few  years  since,  in  the  northern  part  of  Ohio.  What- 
ever the  defects  of  the  sketch,  it  possesses  at  least  one 
merit — that  of  truthfulness.  Among  the  distinguished 
members  of  the  clergy  in  the  Buckeye  State,  the  Rev. 


204  Granville  Moody. 

Dr.  Moody,  of  the  Methodist  persuasion,  justly  holds 
a  prominent  position.  As  a  man,  possessing  a  gen- 
erous amount  of  native  talent,  aided  by  untiring  in- 
dustry, enterprise,  and  boldness,  he  is  celebrated,  not 
only  among  those  of  his  own  faith,  but  among  all  de- 
nominations of  Christians.  Among  the  leading  traits 
of  his  character,  a  strong  will  and  a  rather  diminutive 
development  of  what  phrenologists  call  reverence 
have  become  so  universally  known  as  to  be  consid- 
ered mere  eccentricities,  and  often  prevent  acts  of  his 
from  attracting  notice,  while  in  other  members  of  his 
peaceful  and  self-denying  profession  they  would  ex- 
cite universal  wonder. 

"  At  the  time  of  which  we  write  he  was  the  pas- 
tor of  a  large  and  wealthy  Church,  in  a  town  which 
shall  be  nameless.  He  was  almost  idolized  by  the 
people,  and  in  many  respects  occupied  a  most  pleas- 
ant and  enviable  position.  But  there  were  some  draw- 
backs to  his  satisfaction,  and  not  the  least  important 
of  these  was  the  circumstance  that  some  of  his  Church 
members  differed  from  him,  both  theoretically  and  prac- 
tically, on  a  subject  of  considerable  magnitude.  This 
was  nothing  more  or  less  than  the  sale  and  use  of 
ardent  spirits. 

"  But  little  had  been  accomplished  in  the  move- 
ment for  a  temperance  reform,  and  the  agitation  of 
the  subject  had  only  just  commenced ;  but  Dr.  M.  had 
become  thoroughly  convinced  that  intoxicating  bev- 
erages were  unnecessary  and  hurtful,  and  the  traffic 
in  them  a  wrong  and  an  injustice.  Having  come  to 
this  conclusion,  he  was  not  the  man  to  sit  idly  down 
and  expect  to  work  a  reformation,  without  making  use 
of  the  natural  means  to  produce  such  a  result. 

"Several  members  of  his  own    Church  were   en- 


Further  Incidents.  205 

gaged  in  the  traffic,  and  he  immediately  turned  his 
attention  to  them.  By  reasoning  with  them  in  his 
own  earnest  and  forcible  manner,  he  soon  succeeded 
in  persuading  them  all  to  renounce  the  pernicious 
traffic. 

"We  said  all;  but  the  statement  is  too  sweeping, 
for  there  was  one  exception.  Brother  Jones  was  a 
crabbed,  self-willed  old  grocer,  who,  though  he  had 
been  a  member  of  that  Church  for  many  years,  never- 
theless had  the  reputation  of  being  very  far  from  in- 
different to  the  vanities  of  this  world.  And  now,  when 
the  pastor  endeavored  to  persuade  him  to  give  up  the 
traffic  in  spirits,  all  his  efforts  proved  futile.  He  de- 
fended himself  sturdily  on  the  broad  principle  that  it 
was  no  worse  now  than  it  always  had  been  ;  that  the 
laws  of  the  land  gave  him  permission  to  sell  liquor ; 
that  he  had  done  it  for  years,  and  would  continue 
to  do  so  as  long  as  he  saw  fit. 

"  Dr.  M.,  however,  was  not  a  man  to  be  easily 
balked  when  his  heart  was  once  set  on  an  object ;  so 
when  he  found  all  attempts  to  reason  with  this  black 
sheep  of  his  flock  proving  fruitless,  he  took  more  de- 
cided measures.  He  presented  the  case  to  the  other 
members  of  his  Church,  and,  in  a  short  time,  Brother 
Jones  was  given  to  understand,  in  very  plain  terms, 
that,  unless  he  saw  fit  to  comply  with  the  wishes  of 
the  pastor  and  the  body  to  which  he  belonged,  official 
notice  would  be  taken  of  the  matter  at  once.  Some- 
what alarmed  at  this,  Brother  Jones  finally  relented, 
and  promised  faithfully  that,  for  all  time  to  come,  he 
would  abstain  from  his  traffic  in  the  liquid  fires.  And, 
for  a  time,  he  kept  his  promise,  and  was  looked  upon 
as  a  reformed  man. 

"  But  the  love  of  lucre  proved   too   strong  for  the 
Christian  grocer,  and,  in  a  few  months,  he  had   so  far 


206  Granville  Moody. 

disregarded  his  promise  as  to  deal  out  bad  brandy  and 
worse  whisky,  at  three  cents  a  glass,  with  more  gusto 
than  ever.  The  Church,  after  rinding  all  further  remon 
strance  useless,  took  immediate  cognizance  of  the 
matter,  and  excommunicated  him  at  once.  Then,  for 
the  first  time,  Brother  Jones  began  to  be  convinced 
that  he  had  been  a  little  too  hasty  for  his  own  good. 
Like  a  great  many  other  men,  he  had  found  his 
Church  connection  an  excellent  thing  for  covering  his 
various  derelictions  from  the  right  path,  and  when 
this  cloak  was  stripped  off,  and  his  character  was  ex- 
posed in  its  native  hue,  with  no  such  protection,  he 
soon  found  his  moral  credit  decidedly  below  par. 
Thereupon  he  waxed  exceeding  wroth,  and,  judging 
correctly  that  Dr.  M.  had  been  the  direct  cause  of  what 
he  termed  his  persecution,  he  thereupon  determined 
to  visit  vengeance  upon  his  reverend  and  devoted 
head. 

"  His  disgrace  was  universally  known,  and  he  de- 
termined that  his  revenge  also  should  be  public.  He, 
therefore,  invited  a  large  number  of  his  friends  to  be 
at  his  grocery  on  a  certain  evening,  assuring  them 
that  it  was  his  intention,  then  and  there,  to  bestow 
upon  the  minister  a  severe  bodily  chastisement.  The 
evening  came,  and  so  did  they,  anxious,  as  the  great 
public  ever  is,  to  be  present  on  all  exciting  occasions. 
When  the  grocery  was  pretty  well  crowded,  a  mes- 
senger was  dispatched  to  Dr.  M.,  soliciting  his  pres- 
ence at  once  on  business  of  the  utmost  importance. 
Five  minutes  had  not  elapsed  when  the  messenger  re- 
turned, and  with  him  the  good  parson,  wondering  if 
the  erring  brother  had  relented  once  more.  The 
moment  they  entered,  the  indignant  Jones  locked  the 
door  behind  them,  drew  himself  up  to  his  full  height 
(about  four-feet-six),  and   addressed   the  minister   in 


Further  Incidents.  207 

the  most  imperious  tone  :  '  Dr.  Moody,  I  am  an  ill- 
used  man,  and  you  know  it.  I  am  vilely  persecuted, 
sir,  and  you  are  at  the  bottom  of  it  all.  Now,  sir,  I 
have  brought  you  here  to-night  to  show  you  that  you 
can  not  do  this  with  impunity.' 

"  '  Brother  Jones,'  began  the  parson. 
"'Do n't  brother  me,  sir,'  interrupted  that  fiery  in- 
dividual.    '  I  say  I  have  brought  you  here  to-night  to 
teach  you  a  lesson,  sir ;  to  rebuke  you,  sir ;  in  short,  I 
intend  to  cowhide  you,  sir.' 

"  And,  suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  the  excited 
member  of  the  Jones  family  immediately  produced  a 
cowhide,  and  began  to  approach  nearer  to  his  clerical 
opponent. 

"  'Brother  Jones,'  said  Dr.  M.,  with  a  good  deal  of 
decision,  but  with  the  utmost  nonchalance. 

"  '  Sir?' 

" '  Did  I  understand  you  to  speak  of  cowhiding  me?' 

"'Certainly,  you  did,  sir;  and  you  will  soon  hear 
something  more  than  mere  words.' 

'"Brother  Jones.' 

"'Sir?' 

"  '  Do  n't  do  it.' 

"  '  And  why  not,  sir?'  asked  Jones,  in  a  perfect  tor- 
nado of  rage. 

"'You  know  we  Methodists  believe  in  the  possi- 
bility of  falling  from  grace.' 

"'Well,  sir?' 

"  '  Well,  Brother  Jones,  if  you  strike  me  with  that 
cowhide,  it  is  very  likely  that  I  shall  fall  from  grace ;' 
and  the  parson  drew  up  about  six-feet-four  of  as  well- 
made  frame  as  can  easily  be  found,  and  looked  down 
on  his  diminutive  opponent  with  the  air  of  a  man  who 
meant  what  he  said. 

" '  W-h  w-h-y,  Doctor,'  stammered  Jones,  taken  all 


208  Granville  Moody. 

aback.     '  You  surely  do  n't  intend  to  say  that  you  'd 

fight?' 

"  'I  say  nothing  about  that,'  replied  Dr.  M.,  'but  I 

do  say,  Brother  Jones,  that  if  you  strike  me  a  single 

blow,  I  shall  be  very  likely  to  fall  from  grace ;  and  if  I 

do  fall  from  grace,   you  will  certainly  be  the  worst 

whipped  man  ever  seen  in  the  State  of  Ohio.' 

"Jones  didn't  carry  out  his  threats;  he  repented 

immediately;   so  the  Doctor  had  no  occasion  to   fall 

from  grace.     Poor  Jones  !     To  this  day  he  is  ready  to 

die  with  shame   if  you  ask  him,  '  Who  whipped  the 

minister?'  " 

The  next  incident  is  entitled  "  The  Fighting 
Parson,"  and  is  clipped  from  the  D  ay  to  ji  Journal : 

"  Colonel  Allston,  John  Morgan's  chief  of  staff,  has 
been  paroled,  and  is  wending  his  way  south.  The 
Columbus  Journal  published  a  story  about  him,  which 
goes  to  show  that  he  is  a  repentant  rebel.  '  He  spoke 
in  desponding  terms  of  the  rebel  cause,'  said  our  con- 
temporary, but  that  '  the  rebels  regard  the  success  of 
the  peace-men  of  the  Vallandigham  school  as  their 
only  hope  of  being  victorious.  He  looked  upon  Val- 
landigham as  a  true  friend  of  the  rebels,  and  would 
hail  his  election  as  a  promising  indication  of  a  speedy 
termination  of  the  war,  by  the  withdrawal  of  our 
armies  from  the  rebel  States.'  This  rebel,  Colonel 
Allston,  decorated  in  secesh  uniform,  cut  a  large  swath 
in  Columbus  before  he  left  on  Wednesday,,  and  no- 
body rebuked  him ;  but  on  his  way  to  Zanesville,  via 
the  Central  Ohio  Railroad,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of 
one  of  the  faithful.  The  incident  was  described  to  us 
by  an  eye-witness. 

"Colonel  Allston  sat  with  a  brawny  Copperhead 
on  one  side  of  the  car,  vomiting  out  treason,  which  his 


Further  Incidents.  209 

fellow-  traitor  meekly  accepted.  Colonel  Granville 
Moody,  with  his  daughter,  sat  opposite  him  reading 
a  newspaper.  Colonel  M.  was  restive,  but  restrained 
himself  for  some  time.  At  last  the  rebel  colonel,  in 
full  rebel  uniform,  who  talked  loudly  and  defiantly, 
evidently  desirous  to  attract  attention,  said  that  it  was 
'the  duty  of  the  peace  Democrats  to  elect  Vallandig- 
ham.  It  was  necessary  to  save  them  from  Lincoln's 
cursed  tyranny.  It  was  the  most  damnable  tyranny  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.  Three  months  hence  you  people 
of  the  North  will  appeal  to  us  [rebels],  suppliantly,  to 
come  up  and  rescue  you  from  Lincoln's  despotism.' 

"Hardly  was  the  sentence  concluded,  when  Colonel 
Moody,  flaming  with  indignation,  dashed  his  paper  to 
the  floor,  sprang  across  the  car,  seized  the  insolent 
rebel  by  the  throat,  and  thrusting  his  knuckles  into 
his  face,  hissed  through  his  teeth:  'You  infamous 
scoundrel !  how  dare  you  insult  my  government  with 
your  treason  ?  How  dare  you  pollute  this  atmosphere 
with  your  insults  to  my  country  ?  Shut  your  mouth, 
or  I  '11  crush  every  bone  in  your  infernal  body.'  Then 
the  colonel  seized  the  rebel  with  force  enough  almost 
to  raise  him  from  his  seat,  and,  with  considerable 
trepidation,  he  stammered,  'I  '11 — I  '11  stop.' 

"  '  Stop  now,  or  I  '11  throw  you  out  of  the  window. 
I  know  your  rights  as  a  paroled  prisoner;  you  are 
under  the  protection  of  the  government.  That  does 
not  authorize  you  to  abuse  and  insult  it.  You 
have  abused  your  privilege.  No  man  in  rebel  uniform 
shall  abuse  my  government  in  my  hearing  without 
paying  the  penalty  of  his  insolence.' 

"  By  this  time  Allston's  big  copperhead  friend  at- 
tempted to  say  something.  'Not  a  word  from  you!' 
cried  Colonel  M.  'You  miserable  copperhead,  you  sat 
here    and   listened    to   this    rebel's    treason    without 

16 


210  Granville  Moody. 

resenting  it.  If  you  had  a  grain  of  manhood  you  would 
have  saved  me  the  necessity  of  interfering.  Not  a  word 
from  you,  or  I  '11  take  you  in  hand.  You  are  meaner 
than  this  rebel.  You  have  all  the  instincts  of  a  traitor, 
without  the  courage  of  a  rebel.'  That  settled  the  fel- 
low, and  he  subsided.  A  third  attempted  to  interpose, 
and  was  summarily  disposed  of  in  a  similar  man- 
ner. The  rebel  colonel  sank  back  into  his  seat  and 
endeavored  to  look  composed,  but  his  mind  was  evi- 
dently ill  at  ease.  Colonel  Moody  was  right.  He 
shed  his  blood  for  his  country ;  he  knew  that  a  paroled 
rebel  had  no  right  to  insult  the  government  which 
protected  him,  and  justly  felt  it  his  duty  to  teach  the 
villain  a  lesson  he  would  not  forget." 

I  give  in  this  connection  an  incident  illustra- 
tive of  muscular  Christianity  at  Camp  Chase.  Dur- 
ing the  year  1862  I  was  in  command  of  the  camp, 
having  under  my  supervision  six  thousand  rebel 
prisoners,  composed  of  generals,  colonels,  majors, 
captains,  and  privates.  There  was  a  large  space 
of  the  camp  set  apart  for  rebels,  surrounded  with 
a  stockade  twelve  feet  high,  and  sufficiently  under 
guard  to  control  their  Southern  feelings. 

One  beautiful  afternoon  a  splendid  carriage, 
drawn  by  a  magnificent  pair  of  prancing  horses, 
driven  by  a  servant  in  livery,  was  seen  to  enter 
the  camp  and  approach  the  rebel  stockade.  In  a 
few  moments  the  gates  were  thrown  open,  and 
the  carriage  was  about  to  enter,  when  the  move- 
ment attracted  my  attention,  and  I  immediately 
ordered  a  halt,  and  demanded  by  what  authority 
those    gates  were    opened.     "  By   my    authority," 


Further  Incidents.  211 

saic  a  richly  dressed  lady  within  the  carriage. 
u  And  who  gave  yon  your  authority  ?"  "  Governor 
Tod."  "Please  let  me  see  it,"  said  I.  The  pass 
read :  "  Permit  the  bearer  to  enter  Camp  Chase 
and  visit  prisoners,  provided  it  meets  with  the  ap- 
probation of  the  commanding  officer."  I  read  the 
pass,  and  said:  "Governor  Tod  has  no  authority 
whatever  to  pass  you  into  this  camp,  because  it  is  a 
national,  and  not  a  State  camp.  It  is  true  that 
we  respect  the  authority  of  Governor  Tod,  and 
treat  his  requests  with  due  courtesy ;  but  he  says 
to  admit  you  if  it  meets  my  approbation,  and  why 
was  not  this  request  sent  to  head-quarters  ?"  "  Be- 
cause I  did  not  see  fit  to  send  it  to  you,"  was  the 
reply.  "Then,"  said  I  to  the  coachman,  "drive 
out.  You  will  not  be  permitted  to  remain."  He 
moved  slowly,  and  pretended  he  could  not  turn 
round,  when  I  ordered  the  men  to  drop  their  guns, 
and  take  hold  of  the  bits  of  the  horses  and  back 
the  carriage  out — which  was  speedily  done. 

"I  will  report  you  to  Governor  Tod,"  said  the 
voice  of  the  lady;  "for  you  are  not  fit  for  the  po- 
sition you  occupy ;  and  I  will  see  that  you  are 
removed  and  properly  punished  for  insulting  a 
lady."  I  found  out  that  Mrs.  Judge  T.  had,  for  a 
month,  been  visiting  rebel  prisoners  and  supplying 
them  with  the  choicest  of  luxuries,  and  on  this 
occasion  her  carriage  was  filled  with  supplies  to 
bless  the  hearts  of  those  with  whom  she  was  in 
sympathy.  I  said  to  her:  "Madam,  you  not  only 
came  here,  and  by  your  supposed  authority  risked 
the  escape  of  all  these  prisoners,  who  are  but  ill- 


212  Granville  Moody. 

guarded  with  the  small  force  now  in  camp,  but 
you  have  been  providing  rebels  with  aid  and  sym- 
pathy, when  there  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  sick 
and  dying  soldiers  in  our  own  hospital  who  would 
gladly  receive  those  delicacies  in  your  carriage, 
and  would  rise  up  and  call  your  name  blessed." 
The  only  reply  was:  "You  are  no  gentleman,  and 
I  will  report  your  conduct ;"  and,  with  the  speed  of 
the  wind,  the  coachman  hurried  her  away  to  the 
capital,  maddened  with  rage.  As  soon  as  she  left 
I  demanded:  "Who  ordered  these  gates  to  be 
opened?"  The  officer  in  charge  replied  that  he 
did.  I  demanded  the  surrender  of  his  sword,  and 
sent  him  under  charges  to  head-quarters. 

In  a  very  short  time  a  courier  arrived  in  haste 
from  Governor  Tod  to  me,  asking  me  to  come  at 
once  to  the  city — to  which  request  I  immediately 
gave  heed.  I  found  Governor  Tod  and  General 
Buckingham,  adjutant-general  of  Ohio,  awaiting 
my  coming,  and  we  immediately  retired  to  a  pri- 
vate room  in  the  capitol  to  hold  a  council  of  war. 
The  door  was  closed,  and  Governor  Tod  said  to 
me:  "We  sent  for  you  because  there  is  trouble. 
Mrs.  Judge  T.  has  brought  an  account  of  a  ter- 
rible insult  you  gave  her  in  commanding  her  to 
leave  Camp  Chase  this  afternoon ;  and  her  hus- 
band is  very,  very  angry,  and  swears  that  he  will 
shoot  you  on  sight.  Now  let  us  hear  from  you 
the  facts  just  as  they  occurred,  as  we  have  only 
heard  the  statement  of  Judge  T."  I,  with  pre- 
cision and  accuracy,  gave  every  detail,  even  to 
the  particulars  of  the  conversation,  and  spoke  of 


Further  Incidents.  213 

my  urging  her  to  give  her  delicacies  to  the  sick 
in  the  hospital,  with  such  earnestness  that,  during 
the  recital  of  the  plea,  Governor  Tod  shed  tears. 
After  hearing  my  statement,  he  said  with  empha- 
sis:  "Colonel  Moody,  you  were  exactly  right,  and 
I  do  not  see  how  you  could  have  done  otherwise." 
General  Buckingham  said :  "  If  Colonel  Moody 
had  done  otherwise,  I  should  have  reported  him  as 
derelict  in  duty,  and  insisted  on  his  removal." 
"But,"  continued  the  governor,  "T.  is  exceed- 
ingly wroth,  and  swears  that  no  street  or  sidewalk 
is  large  enough  to  hold  you  both,  and  that  he  will 
kill  you  at  sight."  I  showed  him  my  brace  of  six- 
shooters,  and  said:  "Governor  Tod,  I  keep  these 
for  dogs,  and  these  are  dog-days." 

The  next  morning,  early,  I  went  into  the  city 
and  met  a  friend,  who  took  me  into  his  carriage. 
He  said :  "  Colonel  Moody,  the  whole  city  is  in  com- 
motion and  whirl  of  excitement  at  your  reported 
treatment  o£  Mrs.  T.  yesterday,  and  report  says 
that  Judge  T.  is  determined  to  kill  you  ;  while  the 
Democrats  are  white  with  pent-up  wrath."  I  had 
never  seen  Judge  T.,  and  while  this  conversation 
was  going  on  the  friend  pointed  him  out  to  me. 
I  immediately  took  the  lines  out  of  the  hands  of 
my  friend  and  drove  into  the  presence  of  Judge 
T.,  who  was  reading  letters  in  front  of  the  post- 
office.  I  stood  before  him,  and  looked  him  in  the 
eye.  As  he  saw  me  he  turned  white,  then  red  in  a 
moment,  so  perturbed  was  his  flow  of  thought ; 
and,  excusing  himself  to  some  friends,  he  imme- 
diately started   to  the  State-house,  whither  I  fol- 


214  Granville  Moody. 

lowed  him  at  once,  and  showed  myself  willing  to 
be  shot  at  by  the  man  who  had  shaken  the  city 
of  Columbus  by  his  threats  of  dire  vengeance. 
Three  times  he  escaped  my  eye  as  I  followed 
after  him,  and  that  is  all  the  effort  he  has  ever 
made  to  kill  me  from  that  day  to  this. 

The  opposition  papers  and  rebel  sympathizers 
did  their  best  to  make  political  capital  out  of  this 
incident;  but  I  had  the  approving  evidence  of  my 
own  conscience  in  the  discharge  of  duty,  and  my 
commanding  officer  sanctioned  all  that  I  did  as 
just  and  right. 

The  large  flag  of  the  United  States  had  floated 
in  apparent  safety  in  the  north-east  corner  of 
Camp  Chase  till  the  spring  of  1861,  when  a  violent, 
whirling  wind  enwrapped  it  in  its  unseen  folds, 
and  down  it  came,  hanging  and  clinging  around 
the  staff,  which  was  broken  off  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
from  the  ground.  This  accident  called  forth  the 
jubilant  hurrahs  of  the  imprisoned  rebels,  and 
they  laughed  and  danced,  and  prophesied  that  it 
was  a  type  of  the  destiny  of  the  accursed  Re- 
public. "  Down  with  the  flag !  God  is  on  our  side  ! 
The  winds,  in  their  courses,  fight  against  this 
abhorred  flag!"  The  secesh  preachers  mouthed 
it  into  a  prolepsis  of  the  fall  of  the  Republic — the 
ruin  of  which  was  hereby  foreshadowed.  "  So  let 
every  banner  of  Stars  and  Stripes  fall  and  fade  and 
perish  and  pass  away.  Hurrah  for  the  Stars  and 
Bars!"  Meanwhile,  forgetting  the  limit  of  nine 
feet  from  the  walls  of  the  wooden  fencing,  their 
buoyant,  boastful  spirit  overleaped  all  boundaries, 


Further  Incidents.  215 

and  they  rejoiced  that  the  whirlwinds  of  heaven 
joined  them  in  warring  against  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.  "  Hurrah  for  Jeff  Davis  and  the  Confed- 
eracy!" they  shouted. 

The  tumult  was  increasing,  and  some  one  came 
into  my  office,  which  was  just  opposite  the  fallen 
flag,  and  called  me  out.  I  ran  to  the  flag  and 
called  the  reserved  guards  to  follow  me,  which 
they  did  promptly ;  and  when  I  reached  the  sum- 
mit of  the  fence  on  the  guard-route,  there  were 
from  three  to  four  hundred  men  within  three  to  five 
feet  of  the  fence,  and  every  mouth  was  opened 
with  objurgations  on  the  fallen  flag.  I  cried  out : 
uGo  to  your  limits  beyond  the  fence,  and  cease 
your  insults  to  the  flag  of  the  free !"  They 
shouted  only  the  more,  and  heaped  their  insults 
on  the  flag.  I  ordered  silence,  and  bade  them  re- 
member they  were  largely  outside  their  limits. 
"  Retire  at  once  to  your  limits  or  take  the  conse- 
quences !  March  at  once !"  Not  one  obeyed  the 
orders,  but  they  heaped  derisions  on  the  fallen 
flag.  I  shouted  :  "  Guards  !  ready  !  aim  !"  The 
guards,  in  almost  solid  phalanx,  leveled  their 
rifles,  when  the  crowd,  seeing  the  possible  conse- 
quences, started  back  to  their  tents,  each  one 
shouting  to  the  other:  "Run,  run!  run  for  your 
lives,  men,  run ;"  and  run  they  did,  till  not  a  rebel 
could  be  seen  in  the  whole  yards.  "Guards,  re- 
cover arms  !  shoulder  arms !  order  arms  !  rest !" 
The  carpenters  were  called  out,  flag-poles  were 
fitted  and  bands  applied ;  and,  in  less  than  an 
hour,    the    flag-staff    was    repaired    and    the    old 


216  Granville  Moody. 

"  beauty  and  glory"  was  bent  on  it  afresh,  amid 
the  cheering  of  hundreds  of  patriotic  voices. 

After  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  there  was  a 
requisition  made  on  the  military  at  Camp  Chase, 
which  left  the  guard  over  six  thousand  prisoners 
entirely  inadequate.  This  was  speedily  known 
among  the  prisoners,  and  their  expectations  and 
schemes  for  breaking  out  were  developed  to  their 
slaves,  who  were  interested  in  our  cause  whilst 
in  the  employment  of  their  masters  in  the  prison. 
We  found  it  to  our  interest  to  leave  their  former 
slaves  in  their  employment  for  awhile ;  for  thus  it 
was  "  a  wheel  working  within  a  wheel,"  and  work- 
ing for  cur  good  by  way  of  espionage.  These 
slaves  knew  all  the  plans  of  the  officers,  and 
we  were  speedily  apprised  of  their  schemes  and 
projects. 

The  morning  the  regiments  left  for  the  field  of 
active  service  we  were  duly  informed  of  their 
plans  for  escape.  We  had  not  more  than  sixty 
soldiers  left  for  guard  duty,  and  many  of  these 
were  invalids.  I  called  for  my  horse,  and  was 
soon  closeted  with  Governor  Tod  and  staff  in  con- 
sultation. I  represented  the  condition  of  things  in 
the  camp,  the  expectation  of  the  rebel  officers  to 
make  an  effort  to  escape  that  night,  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  re-enforcing  the  defenses.  The  result 
was,  the  governor  wrote  to  Colonel  Carrington, 
of  the  Eighteenth  Regiment  of  United  States 
regular  troops,  who  was  about  sixteen  miles  dis- 
tant, to  come  by  forced  march  to  re-enforce  the 
prison  camp-guard.     Meanwhile  volunteer  guards 


Further  Incidents. 


217 


were  sent  from  Columbus  to  serve  one  night.  I 
also  procured  over  two  hundred  new  lanterns  to 
be  suspended  as  an  auxiliary  force  on  the  summit 
of  the  prison  fences,  to  afford  superior  illumina- 
tion. I  organized  skeleton  regiments,  with  three 
to  five  officers  to  each  company,  to  march  into 
camp  at  about  eight  o'clock  P.  M.,  in  company 
distance,  with  colonel,  lieutenant-colonel,  and 
major,  who  were  to  form  regiments  and  march 
them  into  camp  under  orders,  as  if  whole  compa- 
nies were  in  line,  and  to  come  to  head-quarters ; 
and,  after  salutes  of  officers,  be  assigned  to  quar- 
ters near  the  walls  of  the  prisons. 

These  orders  were  carried  out  to  the  letter, 
and  the  impression  that  our  guard-line  was  largely 
re-enforced  was  made  on  the  minds  of  the  pris- 
oners. Two  imaginary  re-enforcements  of  our 
guard  officers  and  men  were  effectually  made  dur- 
ing the  dense  darkness  of  that  fearful  night. 
Every  officer,  sutler,  and  private  was  put  into 
requisition.  About  two  o'clock  A.  M.,  Colonel 
Carrington  arrived  with  about  three  hundred  regu- 
lar soldiers,  and  by  four  A.  M.  they  were  in  posi- 
tion on  the  platforms  around  the  summit  of  our 
prison  fences;  and,  when  daylight  dawned,  they 
were  seen  by  the  prisoners,  to  their  discomfiture. 

Colonel  Carrington  kept  up  the  Regular  Army 
regulations  and  discipline,  and  thus  an  outbreak 
was  prevented  by  prevision.  Forewarned,  we  were 
forearmed.  The  good  will  of  the  Negroes  to  the 
government  was  shown.  They  were  imprisoned 
temporarily  with  their  masters,  with  whom  they 

19 


218  Granville  Moody. 

were  taken  and  holden.  Their  good-will  served 
us  many  a  good  turn  in  times  of  war.  Some  per- 
sons, who  did  not  understand  all  things,  animad- 
verted on  the  confinement  of  the  slaves  of  the 
captured  secessionists  with  their  masters,  little 
knowing  what  allies  these  slaves  were  to  us.  In 
a  short  time  the  government  gave  to  these  men 
their  liberty,  and  furnished  them  with  good  homes. 
I  sent  them  east,  west,  south,  and  north  in 
Ohio,  free. 

At  this  time,  nearly  all  the  students  in  the 
Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  realizing  the  Nation's 
need  of  all  her  sons  on  the  battle  line,  left  the 
college  in  Delaware,  Ohio,  and  came  to  our  camp 
and  volunteered  in  the  National  service.  Rev. 
Frederick  Merrick,  president  of  the  university, 
came  to  me  in  Camp  Chase  to  get  my  influence 
for  their  return  to  college.  But  I  declined,  stat- 
ing it  to  be  the  bounden  duty  of  every  student 
to  take  his  part  in  the  great  struggle,  and  I  ad- 
vised him  to  volunteer  as  chaplain,  and  go  to  the 
battle-field  with  his  patriotic  students.  He  was  a 
true  patriot,  but  deemed  it  his  duty  to  take  care 
of  the  students  officially. 


Views  on  Slavery.  219 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

VIEWS    ON    SLAVERY. 

THE  following  extracts,  the  first  relating  to  the 
contrabands  at  Camp  Chase,  will  give  the 
reader  my  views  on  the  great  question  of  human 
bondage.  They  are  clipped  from  the  papers  of 
the  period,  and  are  inserted  in  this  place  because 
of  the  interest  which  has  always  attached  to  the 
subject : 

No  small  measure  of  indignation  was  aroused  in 
the  public  mind,  in  relation  to  the  status  of  the  "  col- 
ored population  "  held  in  confinement  at  Camp  Chase. 
The  committee  of  the  Senate,  in  their  report  upon  the 
subject,  propounded  the  inquiry,  "  Why  are  those 
Negroes  there  at  all?"  And  the  question  was  certainly 
a  most  appropriate  one.  It  turned  out,  upon  investi- 
gation, however,  that  they  were  placed  there  as  pris- 
oners of  war — a  position  as  dignified  as  that  enjoyed 
by  their  masters.  It  was  shown  that  the  Negroes 
were  taken  as  participants  in  the  rebel  cause,  some 
with  arms  in  their  hands  against  our  loyal  troops,  and 
against  our  flag,  others  aiding  their  rebel  masters  in 
camp  duty.  This  being  the  case,  they  were  sent  by 
General  Halleck  to  Camp  Chase  in  the  same  category  as 
their  masters  were  ;  namely,  as  prisoners  of  war  taken 
in  battle.  General  Halleck  made  no  distinction  in  com- 
plexion ;  but,  from  "  snowy  white  to  sooty,"  consigned 
all  thus  captured  to  the  military  prison.  The  com- 
mandant of  the  post,  Colonel   Moody,  received  them, 


220  Granville  Moody. 

not  as  servants  of  the  white  men  whom  they  accom- 
panied, but  as  persons  consigned  to  his  military  charge 
in  the  capacity  of  prisoners,  by  virtue  of  the  orders 
of  his  chief-in-command.  When  placed  together  in 
the  camp  prison,  the  haughty  Secesh,  too  shiftless  to 
wait  upon  themselves,  incontinently  fell  back  upon 
their  usual  assumption  of  otium  cum  dignitate,  requir- 
ing the  Negroes  to  serve  them.  This  it  had  been 
their  custom  to  do,  several  of  them  having  been,  in- 
deed, the  slaves  of  some  of  these  officers. 

But  to  this  position  of  affairs  Colonel  Moody  gave 
no  assent.  To  show  this,  we  need  but  refer  to  his 
orders  concerning  them  ;  for,  when  finding  need  of  an 
additional  force  in  his  hospital  for  washing,  nursing, 
and  caring  for  the  sick  generally,  he  respected  the 
convenience  of  these  prison  gentry  so  little  as  to  issue 
an  order  to  his  post  surgeon  to  detail  from  the  prison 
all  the  Negro  men  he  might  need  for  that  purpose. 
This  he  did,  because  of  their  being  experienced  in 
such  personal  service,  and  without  the  smallest 
regard  to,  or  even  a  thought  of,  their  being  under 
any  claim  to  service  upon  the  insolent  Secesh  of  the 
prison. 

Again,  when  Colonel  Moody  received  an  order  from 
the  War  Department ;  to  forward  some  fifty  of  these 
Secesh  officers  to  Fort  Warren,  under  the  guard  of  a 
United  States  officer  sent  for  that  purpose,  he  made  out 
the  list  in  conformity  with  the  order,  and  issued  the 
necessary  marching  orders.  And,  behold,  when  these 
Fort  Warren  gentry  came  forth  from  their  prison, 
Colonel  Moody  was  surprised  to  find  a  number  of 
Negroes  marching  in  the  rear  of  their  white  fellow- 
prisoners  of  the  Secesh  persuasion,  and  each  Negro 
carrying  trunk,  valise,  carpet-sack,  etc.,  for  these  top- 
loftical  masters,  who  seemed  to  be  quite  unaware  that 


Views  on  Slavery.  221 

they  were  not  in  Secessia.  But  Colonel  Moody  speed- 
ily dispelled  their  delusion  on  this  subject.  The  line 
was  at  halt,  and,  in  a  voice  of  sternest  tone,  he  de- 
manded :  "  What  are  those  Negro  men  in  the  line  for?" 
He  was  insolently  told  by  the  Secesh  that  the  Negroes 
were  their  servants,  and  were  to  carry  their  baggage. 
"  No,  sir,"  shouted  Colonel  Moody.  "  We  recognize 
no  such  relations  here,  nor  in  this  country.  You  have 
no  such  claim  to  them,  nor  to  their  service."  Then, 
turning  to  the  Negroes,  he  ordered  them  at  once  to 
lay  down  the  baggage,  and  clear  out  of  the  line.  The 
Negroes  hesitated,  looking  alternately  at  him  and  at 
Secesh,  as  if  studying  which  to  obey.  Seeing  their  hesi- 
tation, Colonel  Moody  shouted,  in  tones  that  left  no 
doubt  as  to  which  had  better  be  obeyed,  "  Throw  down 
that  baggage,  and  clear  the  line,  every  one  of  you!" 
and  at  the  same  time  ordered  an  officer  and  a  squad  of 
soldiers  to  see  his  order  executed,  and  march  the 
Negroes  back  to  prison.  This  was  promptly  done, 
and  the  Secesh  were  allowed  the  high  privilege  of  get- 
ting their  trunks  and  other  traps  to  the  railroad  station 
in  such  manner  as  best  they  could.  Also,  when  the 
Negroes  were  detailed  to  hospital  set  vice,  a  Secesh, 
Colonel  Hanson,  offered  to  furnish  the  money  for  ail 
officer  to  hire  a  man  for  such  service,  so  that  his  man, 
"Jim,"  might  be  left  for  waiting  on  himself;  but  this 
Colonel  Moody  absolutely  refused. 

The  subject  received  a  stormy  ventilation  in  the 
Ohio  House  of  Representatives — a  kind  of  March 
wind  to  usher  in  the  first  of  April.  But  whatever  may 
have  been  the  fact  about  "permitting"  slavery  to 
exist  at  Camp  Chase,  as  the  Senate's  resolution  says,  we 
do  not  see  how  it  could  be  charged  upon  Colonel  Moody. 
He  simply  received  the  men,  black  and  white,  from 
his  superior  officer.     He  kept  them  in  prison  alike. 


222  Granville  Moody. 

If  he  detailed  the  blacks  to  serve  for  the  hospital,  it 
was  because  they  knew  better  than  their  masters  did 
how  to  make  themselves  useful ;  and  on  every  occa- 
sion, where  such  claim  arose,  he  sternly  and  peremp- 
torily refused  all  recognition  of  its  validity.  We 
think  the  statements,  made  by  the  officers  of  his  regi- 
ment, published  in  our  legislative  column,  show  all 
this  abundantly.  Mr.  Cook,  Republican,  spoke  about 
an  hour  on  the  question,  arguing,  at  length,  that  there 
was  no  slavery  in  Camp  Chase,  and  that  injustice  was 
done  Colonel  Moody  as  commandant  of  the  camp,  and 
not  only  to  him,  but  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the 
President  himself.  To  sustain  his  positions,  he  read  the 
following  communications,  furnished  him  by  Colonel 
Moody.  The  colonel  himself  was  present.  He  was 
anxious  to  establish  the  iact  that  he  in  no  way  winked 
at  slavery  in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  and  the 
communications  below  go  far  to  establish  this  state- 
ment : 

Camp  Chase,  March  30,  1862. 

Some  three  weeks  since,  I  was  present  at  an  interview 
between  Colonel  Moody,  commandant  at  this  post,  and  one 
of  the  prisoners  released  on  parole.  During  the  conversation 
the  inquiry  was  made,  whether  there  would  be  any  distinction 
drawn  between  the  Negroes  and  the  other  prisoners.  Colonel 
Moody  replied  that  they  were  all  alike  prisoners  of  war,  and 
would  be  so  considered  by  him;  that  the  same  influence  that 
would  procure  admittance  to  visit  the  white  occupants  of  the 
prison,  would  also  be  necessary  to  hold  communication  with 
the  black.  I  have  also,  both  before  and  since  the  period  re- 
ferred to.  heard  Colonel  Moody,  in  answer  to  similar  inquiries, 
make  substantially  the  same  reply. 

James  Rodgers, 

Post  Sergeant  Major. 

Camp  Chase,  March  30,  1862. 
Some  three  weeks  ago  I  removed  some  sick  from  the  pris- 
ons, and  had  them  placed  in  a  temporary  hospital  under  guard. 


Views  on  Slavery.  223 

The  orders  I  received  from  Colonel  Moody  were  to  detail  such 
colored  men  as  might  be  needed  for  cooks,  nurses,  or  to  at- 
tend to  any  services  needed  for  the  health  and  comfort  of  the 
prisoners.  Several  times  I  have  been  told,  "  That  boy  belongs 
to  me ;  I  need  him  to  wait  on  me ;"  but  in  opposition  to  all 
their  remonstrances,  my  details  were  always  carried  out ; 
and  they  were  given  to  understand  that  their  claim  to  prop- 
erty in  man  was  not  recognized  here  by  Colonel  Moody,  the 
commander  of  the  post.  E.  W.  STEELE, 

Assistant  Surgeon,  74th  Regiment. 

Camp  Chase,  March  31,  1862. 
Since  my  connection  with  the  prisoners  confined  at  Camp 
Chase,  I  have  never  recognized,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
the  right  of  property  in  man;  all  prisoners  have  been  held 
on  equal  footing,  regardless  of  color.  Colonel  Moody  has 
never,  to  my  knowledge,  recognized  the  right  of  one  man  to 
hold  another  as  his  slave.  Governor  Tod  ordered  me  to  de- 
tail any  of  the  blacks  that  I  chose  to  attend  to  any  hospital 
duty,  pertaining  to  their  own  sick ;  and,  to  my  certain  knowl- 
edge, Colonel  Moody  has  peremptorily  refused  to  give  Colonel 
Hanson,  a  prisoner  sent  from  here  to  Fort  Warren,  the  priv- 
ilege of  taking  his  Negroes  with  him,  as  either  servants  or 
slaves;  and  has  constantly  and  positively  ignored  the  rela- 
tion at  this  post.  A.  S.  Baeeard, 

Major  74th  Regiment,  and  Superintendent  of  Prison. 

I  consider  the  above  statement  a  perfectly  true  one. 
Aeex.  Von  Schrader, 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  74th  Regiment. 

Camp  Chase,  March  30,  1862. 
Some  three  weeks  since,  Colonel  G.  Moody,  commandant  of 
this  post,  issued  to  me  authority  to  employ  any  or  all  of  the 
colored  men,  as  prisoners  of  this  camp,  as  nurses  or  attend- 
ants in  any  of  the  hospitals,  or  in  any  service  connected  with 
the  sanitary  duties  of  the  prisoners  of  this  camp ;  and  on  pre- 
senting a  proposition  from  Mr.  Hayes  (major)  to  hire  a  man 
at  his  expense,  in  order  that  he  might  retain  the  services  of 
his  own,  said  proposition  was  promptly  pronounced  inadmis-_ 
sible  and  illegitimate,  by  the  commanding  colonel. 

George  W.  Maris, 
Post  Surgeon,  Camp  Cliase. 


224  Granville  Moody. 

The  following  article  was  contributed  by  me 
to  the  Western  Christian  Advocate  in  1854.  ^  *s 
reproduced  without  abbreviation  or  material 
change : 

By  this  time  your  readers  are  aware  that  the  Ne- 
braska Bill,  involving  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, by  which  slavery  was  forever  prohibited 
north  of  36  °  30'  north  latitude,  has  passed  the  House 
of  Representatives ;  their  amendments  have  been 
agreed  to  by  the  Senate,  and  this  degrading  outrage  is 
consummated,  and  is  now  the  law  of  the  land.  It  is, 
indeed,  a  most  significant  coincidence,  that  this  bill  of 
abominations  was  only  completed  on  Friday,  May  26th — 
the  day  of  the  great  solar  eclipse — and  the  day,  too, 
when  the  sun  of  our  Republic  was  shorn  of  its  glory, 
and  a  portentous  gloom  spread  all  over  the  land. 
Nevertheless,  we  will  find  hope  in  the  fact  that  the 
obscuration  was  but  partial  and  temporary ;  and  sure 
as  Jehovah  reigns,  the  sad  eclipse  of  the  sun  of  liberty 
shall  be  but  temporary  ;  it  shall  emerge  from  the  dark- 
ness, and  shine  with  increased  luster. 

But  the  deed  is  done,  and  the  foes  of  human  free- 
dom are  indulging  in  exultant  joy.  The  heartless 
slave-dealer  calculates  the  great  increase  in  the  price 
of  slaves,  now  that  the  barrier  is  removed,  which  pre- 
vented his  soul-traffic  on  that  virgin  soil  consecrated 
to  freedom.  The  heavy,  reluctant  reverberations  of 
one  hundred  cannons,  consecrated  to  the  defense  of 
liberty,  are  forced  to  give  utterance  to  this  triumph 
of  tyrants ;  and,  fired  near  the  White  House,  they  jar 
harshly  on  the  nerves  of  freedom.  O,  I  see  the  genius 
of  liberty, 

"  In  grief  and  sorrow  bent, 
As  o'er  some  ruined  monument," 


Views  on  Slavery.  225 

with  gloom  on  her  brow,  and  tears  in  her  eye,  with 
anguished  spirit  and  with  anxious  mien,  mourning 
over  this  dire  calamity,  yet  calling  imploringly  and 
hopefully  to  her  votaries  for  help  in  this  time  of  need. 
And  now,  betrayed,  derided,  insulted,  what  shall  we 
do?  Shall  we  fulfill  the  cherished  predictions  of 
Stephen  Arnold  Douglas,  that  the  North  shall  ac- 
quiesce ?  Shall  we  bow  down,  and,  spaniel-like,  lick 
the  foot  that  kicks  us?     No,  no;  never! 

A  short  time  after  the  passage  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  Act  of  1820,  the  late  John  Randolph,  of 
Roanoke,  Virginia,  used  the  following  language  on 
the  floor  of  Congress :  "  We,  of  the  South,  know 
what  we  are  doing.  We  are  always  united,  from  the 
Ohio  to  Florida,  and  we  can  always  unite,  and  you 
of  the  North  are  divided.  We  have  conquered  you 
once — in  the  recent  admission  of  Missouri  with 
slavery — and  we  can  and  will  conquer  you  again. 
Ay,  gentlemen,  we  have  driven  you  to  the  wall, 
and  when  we  have  you  there,  we  mean  to  keep  you 
there,  and  nail  you  down  like  base  money."  This 
prediction  has  been  but  too  fully  realized,  and  the 
North  is  driven  again  to  the  wall,  and,  that,  too,  by 
the  perfidy  of  Northen  men !  And  will  they  ' '  keep 
us  there?"  Will  the  Free  States  submit?  If  they 
do,  they  deserve  to  be  slaves.  But  this  remains  to  be 
seen.  As  yet,  the  Free  States  are  scarcely  aware  of 
the  evils  involved  in  this  bill  of  abominations,  which 
maketh  desolate  the  hearts  and  hopes  of  millions.  It 
is  the  modern  Pandora's  box.  Nor  is  hope  found  at 
the  bottom. 

This  bill  is  so  shaped  as  to  apply  the  principle 
of  Congressional  non-intervention,  as  it  respects  slav- 
ery, not  merely  to  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  but  equally 


226  Granville  Moody. 

to  the  Territories  of  Minnesota,  Oregon,  and  Washing- 
ton, to  the  States  of  Iowa  and  California,  both  of  which 
now  contain  a  limited  number  of  slaves,  and  also  to 
the  States  north-west  of  the  Ohio  River,  hitherto  pro- 
tected by  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 

If  it  be  held  that  the  legislation  of  1850  "  rendered 
inoperative"  the  Missouri  Compromise  Act,  for  the 
same  reason  these  principles  must  be  held  to  have  ren- 
dered inoperative  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  relative  to 
the  territory  north-west  of  the  Ohio  River.  Indeed, 
the  terms  in  which  this  new  doctrine  of  Congressional 
non-intervention  is  announced,  are  such  as  to  indicate 
an  unlimited  application  of  it.  It  sweeps  away  all 
former  limits  to  slavery,  and  proclaims  liberty  to  ex- 
tend slavery  in  every  direction ;  and  if  the  Free 
States  submit,  as  they  have  submitted  to  the  aggres- 
sions of  the  slave-power,  and  yield,  even  seemingly,  to 
the  doctrine  that  has  gained  the  sanction  of  a  Con- 
gressional enactment,  it  will  be  regarded  by  the  South 
as  an  invitation  to  extend  the  sway  of  slavery  over 
the  whole  North.  If  we  allow  them  to  destroy  or 
possess  the  outworks,  they  will  consider  it  a  virtual 
assent  to  occupy  the  citadel. 

The  passage  of  the  Nebraska  Bill,  says  the  Union, 
"is  necessary  to  prepare  the  Northern  mind  for  the 
thick-coming  events  of  the  future — the  acquisition  of 
Cuba,"  and  a  portion  of  Mexico  at  least;  and  the 
same  flagrant  perfidy  which  has  forced  this  measure 
through  Congress  will  be  relied  upon  to  give  success 
to  the  warlike  measures  already  intimated  and  initiated 
by  the  President  and  Senate.  Thus  we  may  see  the 
scope  and  scale  of  the  aggressive  slave  power. 

But  the  Nebraska  Bill  is  not  our  only  danger. 
There  is  an  organized  and  determined  effort  to  have 


Views  on  Slavery.  227 

"property  in  man  "  placed  upon  the  same  basis  as  any 
other  property.  Having  gained  such  a  recognition 
under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  they  ex- 
pect to  be  able  to  hold  slaves  in  all  the  Territories, 
and  to  be  able  to  carry  them  with  them  into  any 
of  the  States  at  pleasure,  without  any  forfeiture  of 
property  in  them. 

Hitherto  the  decisions  of  the  United  States  courts 
have  been,  that  property  in  slaves  is  dependent  on 
local  positive  laws,  and  that  the  title  is  invalidated  the 
moment  the  slave  is  taken  by  his  master,  or  permitted 
to  go,  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  those  laws.  But  Mr. 
Calhoun,  and  all  of  his  school,  claimed  that  what  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  recognized  as  prop- 
erty in  one  State  was,  in  law  and  equity,  property  in 
every  State  and  everywhere  under  the  national  juris- 
diction. This  doctrine  is  becoming  common  at  the 
South,  and  is  advocated  by  many  at  the  North. 

In  the  Lemmon  case,  which  is  now  before  the  Su- 
preme Court,  slaveholders  expect  to  get  an  indorse- 
ment of  this  doctrine,  and  there  is  danger  that  they 
will  succeed;  a  majority  of  the  judges  are  from  the 
slave  States,  as  is  usual  in  the  distribution  of  power ; 
and  when  they  are  removed  by  death,  their  places  are 
sure  to  be  supplied  by  the  most  pro-slavery  men  that 
can  be  found ;  and,  after  the  astonishing  and  unparal- 
leled and  unjust  decision  given  against  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  in  favor  of  the  South,  by  this 
pro-slavery  court,  what  have  we  to  hope  for  from  them  ? 
It  is  more  than  probable  that  a  majority  of  that  court 
will  assert  the  right  of  the  master  to  hold  his  slaves 
in  any  territory  of  the  nation,  and  in  transitu  in  any 
State ;  and  when  this  is  decided  we  shall  be  powerless 
to  resist  except  by  a  civil  revolution.     There  is  no 


228  Granville  Moody. 

appeal  from  the  decision  of  the  United  States  courts 
but  to  arms.  The  alternative,  then,  will  be  abject 
submission  or  a  resort  to  arms  in  defense  of  justice  and 
liberty. 

The  passage  of  the  Nebraska  Bill  amounts  to  a 
dissolution  of  the  compact  by  which,  hitherto,  slavery 
and  freedom  have  affected  to  divide  the  land.  Hence- 
forth there  can  be  no  compromise  between  them  as 
between  equals ;  the  one  must  be  as  abject  and  subject 
as  the  other  will  be  supreme  and  dictatorial. 

It  rests  with  the  North  to  resist  or  submit,  to  sink 
basely  down  into  the  condition  and  attitude  of  a  con- 
quered province,  or  to  rise  in  its  strength,  and  by  stern 
and  steady  demand  for  the  repeal  of  the  Nebraska 
Bill,  or  its  equivalent,  restore  the  landmarks  of  free- 
dom which  our  fathers  set  up,  and  thus  regain  their 
rights  and  their  rightful  portion.  The  North  can  do 
it  if  they  will;  they  will  do  it  if  they  can — united 
they  will  be  invincible. 

One  thing  is  certain,  the  hitherto  existing  re- 
gard for  compromise  measures  in  the  North  will  be 
destroyed  by  recent  movements  of  the  slave  party, 
which  has  repudiated  its  own  compact  with  the  quid 
pro  quo  in  their  possession,  and  as  basely,  too,  as  Mis- 
sissippi repudiated  her  State  debt;  and,  though  the 
South  has  gained  the  Nebraska  Bill,  it  has  lost  its 
honor,  and  sacrificed  its  plighted  faith  most  flagrantly ; 
and  it  is  and  will  be  understood  that  confidence  can 
not  longer  be  reposed  in  Southern  honor  and  integrity, 
and  thus  their  gain  is  an  emphatic  loss. 

Nor  let  the  South,  after  destroying  this  first-born 
of  all  the  measures  of  conciliation,  and  having  estab- 
lished slavery  in  all  the  territory  allotted  to  her  by 
her  own  measure  of  1820,  imagine  for  one  moment 
that  the  North  will  adhere  to  the  measures  of  recent 


Views  on  Slavery.  229 

date  which  recognize  that  first  restriction,  now  that 
the  South  have  annulled  it  for  their  own  benefit.  They 
will  erelong  find  out  that  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  is  the  virtual  repeal  of  the  whole  series 
of  measures,  and  we  are  thereby  absolved  from  all 
further  obligations  to  observe  them,  on  the  principle 
that  the  failure  of  one  party  to  a  contract  to  meet  its 
obligations,  works  an  honorable  release  to  the  party  of 
the  other  part  from  its  cognate  obligations.  This  is 
the  end  of  the  existing  compromises,  and  will  be  the 
barrier  to  all  future  ones. 

And  now  for  stern,  united,  persistent  action  against 
this  common  foe.  We  must  ignore  mere  party  and 
political  interests,  which  are  not  of  vital  importance. 
The  action  of  the  South  makes  this  a  question  of  para- 
mount importance  to  us,  and  we  must  combine  and 
array  a  party  of  freemen  as  terrible  to  tyrants  as  an 
army  with  banners.  We  must  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  all 
the  doctors  of  divinity  who  teach  us  to  obey  the  be- 
hests of  those  "who  frame  iniquity  by  a  law,"  rather 
than  obey  conscience,  reason,  and  the  Word  of  God ; 
we  must  show  Douglas  that  clergymen  are  not  dolts,  nor 
are  they  to  be  gagged  or  intimidated  in  the  holy  cause 
of  human  rights.  Christians  must  show  their  devo- 
tion to  truth  and  principle  to  be  supreme ;  and  though 
another  Daniel  Webster  should  appear  to  compel  sub- 
mission to  the  Nebraska  outrage,  as  he  did  to  the  Fugi- 
tive-slave L,aw,  we  must  say:  Avaunt,  begone !  and 
show  the  slave  power  and  the  slave-catcher  that  that 
odious  Fugitive-slave  Law  is  henceforth  "inopera- 
tive ;"  that  the  Sonth  has  released  us  from  its  inhu- 
man provisions,  and  that  the  panting  fugitive,  who 
implores  our  aid  will  find  that  "we  hold  these  truths 
to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are  created  equal ; 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain 


230  Granville  Moody. 

inalienable  rights ;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

We  thank  the  South  for  uniting  the  North  at  last ; 
and  now  let  us  aid  the  freedom-loving  emigrant,  em- 
powered as  he  is  to  vote,  to  Nebraska ;  make  it  mis- 
sionary ground;  form  a  Methodist  conference  there 
forthwith.  Let  all  the  Churches  do  likewise ;  circulate 
anti  slavery  tracts,  and  the  oppressors  will  be  appalled 
at  the  terrible  reaction  which  shall  overwhelm  them 
and  their  schemes  in  a  signal  defeat. 


Temperance.  231 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

TEMPERANCE— EXTRACTS  FROM  PAPERS. 
From  a  Springfield  Paper  (1851). 

THE  meeting  of  the  Temperance  Alliance  on  Mon- 
day evening,  at  the  Columbia  Street  Church,  was 
numerously  attended.  Rev.  Granville  Moody  deliv- 
ered an  able  address  on  the  subject  of  intemperance 
and  its  appropriate  remedy,  the  enactment  of  a  law- 
similar  in  its  provisions  to  the  Maine  Law,  embracing 
the  principles  of  seizure  and  confiscation.  His  blows 
against  this  monster  vice  were  given  with  a  stalwart 
arm  and  hearty  good- will;  for  whatever  Mr.  Moody 
finds  to  do,  he  does  with  all  his  might.  His  address 
embodied  a  vast  amount  of  statistical  facts,  showing 
the  destructive  effects  of  intemperance  on  the  indi- 
vidual and  society,  physically,  morally,  and  pecun- 
iarily; and  argued  with  great  force  the  right  of  so- 
ciety to  abate  the  traffic  in  liquor  as  a  beverage,  on 
the  same  grounds  that  obscene  books  and  pictures, 
and  the  apparatus  of  the  gambler  are  doomed  to 
destruction ;  the  right  to  protect  itself  against  all 
nuisances  that  endanger  its  health  or  corrupt  its 
morals. 

By  vote  of  the  alliance  the  address  was  ordered  to 
be  printed,  when  all  will  have  an  opportunity  of 
reading  it  for  themselves. 

From  the  "Gazette,"  Dayton  (1854). 

Mr.  Editor, — We  were  much  amused  by  the  silly 
communication   of   "J.    S.,"   which  appeared   in   the 


232  Granville  Moody. 

Empire  of  the  7th  inst.  He  seems  to  be  specially  dis- 
turbed by  the  speeches  made  by  two  of  our  city  clergy 
in  favor  of  an  effective  appliance  of  the  new  liquor  law. 
He  says  :  "The  whole  tone  and  tenor  of  their  speeches 
were  counsel,  advice,  and  persuasion  to  temperance 
men,  and  to  members  of  their  Churches  especially,  to 
do  things  which,  if  done,  must  bring  down  upon  those 
who  do  them  the  contempt  and  scorn  of  all  who  de- 
spise mean  and  dishonest  actions."  Again  he  says : 
"They  would  have  their  followers  degrade  themselves 
by  becoming  public  informers  for  vengeance  or  from 
prejudice"  And  so  intent  is  this  unscrupulous  writer 
in  urging  this  allegation,  that  he  repeats  it  in  the  last 
paragraph,  and  says  that  "he  merely  wishes  to  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  preachers  are  inducing 
their  followers  to  become  public  informers  for  venge- 
ance or  from  prejudice."  He  also  says:  "Since  the 
formation  of  government,  public  informers  for  venge- 
a7ice  or  prejudice  have  occupied  the  same  social 
position  as  hangmen."  And  he  asks,  as  though  his 
conscience  yet  twinged  or  his  prudence  supplicated  to 
be  heard:  "Could  mortal  man  believe  it?"  No,  no, 
Mr.  J.  S. ;  moderate  your  hopes  ;  restrain  your  expecta- 
tions. We  assure  you  that  you  can  not  find  mortal  or 
immortal  man  to  believe  your  senseless  charge  that 
these  naughty  preachers  instigated  their  followers 
against  you  or  your  kith  and  kin,  either  "for  venge- 
ance or  from  prejudice ;"  and  your  threefold  repeti- 
tion of  this  charge  in  one  short  article,  that  they  urged 
them  to  it  "for  vengeance  or  from  prejudice"  shows 
that  you  were  afraid  no  one  would  believe  it ;  and 
you  seem  to  have  proceeded  on  the  maxim,  "Throw 
enough  mud,  some  may  stick." 

And,  pray,  why  are  the  clergy  charged  with  acting, 
and  with  actuating  others,  from  the  silliness  of  preju- 


Temperance.  233 

dice  or  the  savagism  of  revenge?  Why  this  fierce 
and  slanderous  attack  on  the  clergy?  Why  this  at- 
tempt to  call  down  public  odium  upon  them  ?  What 
have  they  done  under  the  derangement  of  prejudice 
or  the  savagism  of  revenge?  What  if  they  did  "ad- 
vise, counsel,  and  persuade"  their  fellow-citizens  to 
the  appliance  and  enforcement  of  this  wholesome  and 
benevolent  law  (as  far  as  it  goes),  enacted  by  the  po- 
litical friends  of  J.  S.  for  the  suppression  of  intem- 
perance, that  greatest  source  of  social  and  moral  evil 
and  ruin  in  our  midst? 

Could  clergymen  be  the  friends  of  society,  in  this 
matter  of  vital  interest,  and  remain  silent  ?  Are  they 
not  expected  to  be  conservators  of  public  morals? 
Has  it  come  to  this,  that  honor,  uprightness,  and  dig- 
nity require  them,  or  any  others,  to  take  the  side  of 

the  makers  or  venders  of  the  accursed  thing?     Is  it 

> 

not  sickening,  too,  to  find  men,  pretending  even  to  a 
moiety  of  common  sense  or  morals,  coming  up  to  the 
aid  of  intemperance  ? 

This  hasty  writer,  it  seems,  could  not  elevate  his 
thoughts  to  the  conception  of  higher  and  nobler  mo- 
tives, as  actuating  temperance  men,  than  "  revenge  or 
prejudice  !"  Has  he  only  studied  the  influence  of  mo- 
tives with  which  he  is  most  familiar?  Does  he  judge 
others  by  himself?  Alas !  has  the  traffic  in  and  use 
of  intoxicating  liquors  so  stultified  his  mind,  and  de- 
based his  heart  already,  that  "revenge  or  prejudice" 
is  the  only  conceivable  alternative  to  him  ?  Could  he 
not,  by  a  more  determined  effort,  rise  to  the  conception 
of  better  motives  for  the  conduct  of  those  who  are  en- 
gaged in  the  benign  and  philanthropic  cause  of  tem- 
perance ?  According  to  this  sapient  correspondent, 
temperance  men  are  guilty  of  "  revenge  and  prejudice" 
when  engaged  in  a  cause  which  requires  a  self-sacrific- 


234  Granville  Moody. 

ing  spirit  of  active  benevolence  in  staying  an  evil 
which  ever  leaves  want  and  wretchedness  in  the  track 
of  its  desolating  course.  We  most  promptly  and  posi- 
tively disclaim  such  unworthy  motives,  and  affirm, 
and  every  one  present  at  the  time  will  attest,  that  no 
such  sentiment  was  even  hinted  at,  much  fess  avowed, 
and  the  statements  of  J.  S.  concerning  them  are  en- 
tirely gratuitous. 

By  the  way,  was  it  the  fifth  resolution  which  re- 
gards with  disapprobation  the  sale  of  beer,  ale,  etc.,  as 
beverages,  which  has  called  out  J.  S.?  Does  he  cry  out 
"because  his  craft  is  in  danger?"  Ah!  Demetrius,  thy 
speech  betrayeth  thee.  This  certainly  is  an  age  of 
progress  !  It  is  amusing  to  hear  a  liquor-dealer  charg- 
ing clergymen  with  being  "  miserable  if  peace  or  hap- 
piness prevail  in  a  neighborhood  for  a  month,"  when 
it  is  notorious  that  peace  and  happiness  can  not  exist 
for  a  single  day  where  intemperance  prevails.  To 
such  we  may  say  in  the  language  of  inspiration  : 
"  What  hast  thou  to  do  with  peace  ?"  "  Who  hath 
woe?  Who  hath  sorrow?  Who  hath  contentions? 
Who  hath  babbling?  Who  hath  wounds  without 
cause  ?  Who  hath  redness  of  eyes  ?  They  that  tarry 
long  at  the  wine ;  they  that  go  to  seek  mixed  wine." 

But  perchance  J.  S.  acted  on  the  policy  of  the  pur- 
sued thief,  who  ran  in  order  to  divert  attention,  and 
exclaimed  as  he  ran:  "Stop  thief,  stop  thief!"  But 
how  are  we  to  understand  J.  S.  ?  Does  he  wish  to 
appear  before  the  public  as  the  advocate  and  defender 
of  all  the  woes  and  wretchedness  and  misery  and 
wickedness  of  intemperance  ?  Does  he  indeed  riot  in 
the  tears  of  broken-hearted  wives  and  more  than 
orphaned  children  ?  Has  he  lost  sight  of  the  drunkard 
in  the  gutter?  Has  he,  and  have  his  coadjutors  closed 
their   eyes    to   the   cry   of   crime?     Have   oppressive 


Temperance.  235 

taxes,  and  crowded  almshouses,  and  crowded  jails, 
and  crowded  penitentiaries,  and  the  dark  gallows  with 
its  swinging  victims,  all  failed  to  impress  his  mind 
and  their  minds  with  the  inconceivable  and  unmiti- 
gated evils  of  the  wrong  he  defends  ?  Has  petty 
gain  blinded  the  mind,  hardened  the  heart,  seared  the 
conscience,  blasted  the  finer  sensibilities  and  sympa- 
thies of  the  souls  of  the  dealers  in  this  accursed  thing, 
and  even  brought  J.  S.  out  as  their  voluntary  ad- 
vocate? This  charge  I  do  not  make  against  him,  but 
I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  how  he  can  be  exonerated 
from  the  blame  of  endeavoring  to  hinder  those  whose 
only  aim  is  to  remove  these  evils  from  society.  "Be 
not  partakers  of  other  men's  sins." 

In  conclusion,  let  me  ask,  Are  these  sentiments 
and  feelings  avowed  by  J.  S.,  so  nearly  allied  to  the 
spirit  that  conceived  and  consummated  the  Nebraska 
outrage,  which,  despising  the  solemnities  of  a  national 
compact  and  compromise,  and  disregarding  the  original 
design  of  this  government,  which  was  to  establish 
liberty  and  justice,  endeavors  to  open  wide  the  door 
under  the  sanctions  of  our  republican  government, 
for  the  purpose  of  flooding  this  land  of  liberty  with 
all  the  horrors  and  wrongs  of  slavery?  Is  J.  S.  striv- 
ing to  shield  and  promote  intemperance  in  our  midst, 
and  slavery  in  our  land,  with  such  determined  zeal, 
that  any  efforts  made  against  these  pet  curses  of  com- 
munity wake  up  his  indignation  in  defense  of  both  ? 
Alas!  'tis  said  that  "the  vices  go  in  groups."  But  it 
may  be  that  the  influence  of  association  and  one- 
ness of  principle  are  leading  him  in  the  wake  of  the 
politicians  who  decry  the  efforts  of  the  friends  of  lib- 
erty and  morals,  and  decry  clergymen  in  particular 
(and  some  men  are  constitutionally  apish).  If  so,  the 
conflict  will  not  terminate  very  soon,  and  their  vainly 


236  Granville  Moody. 

sought  victory  will  furnish  the  modern  illustration  of 
the  work  of  Sisyphus. 

On  the  subject  of  the  office  and  work  of  the  pulpit, 
I  recommend  to  J.  S.  th*e  consideration  of  the  senti- 
ment uttered  by  that  correct  and  nohle-minded  poet, 
Cowper : 

"  The  pulpit 

Must  stand  acknowledged,  whilst  the  world  shall  stand, 

The  most  important  and  effectual  guard, 

Support,  and  ornament  of  virtue's  cause." 

We  are  at  a  loss  to  determine  whether  the  bad 
spirit  or  the  bad  spelling,  the  bad  sense  or  the  bad 
syntax,  of  the  communication  of  J.  S.  bears  the  palm. 
Either  the  typographers  have  done  him  great  injustice, 
or  he  ought  to  sue  his  school-master  for  his  education. 
But  we  must  be  lenient  on  this  point,  as  he  promises 
not  "to  throw  open  the  sacerdotal  robes  of  clerical 
ignorance." 

We  confess  a  little  curiosity  to  know  who  this  J.  S. 
is.  Some  say  he  is  from  Pennsylvania,  having  im- 
ported himself  to  this  city  at  a  heavy  expense,  to 
assume  the  post  of  head  secretary  to  a  bag  of  malt. 
Of  this,  however,  we  have  no  certain  knowledge,  and 
are  left  to  judge  his  personality  from  his  initials.  For 
what,  then,  do  the  letters  J.  S.,  stand?  If  for  a  name,  it 
might  be  John  Smith;  but  we  are  not  disposed  to  slan- 
der that  respectable  individual  by  the  supposition.  We 
prefer  to  suppose  that  the  initials  J.  S.  stand  for  terms 
merely  descriptive  of  a  class,  the  Jug-Suckers.  For 
the  present  we  bid  them  and  their  champion  adieu. 

M. 

Mr.  Editor, — We  noticed  a  second  communica- 
tion from  J.  S.  in  the  Empire  of  the  16th  inst.,  upon 
which  we   would  make  a  few  remarks,  not  that  we 


Temperance.  237 

deem  his  article  worthy  of  attention  further  than 
this;  in  meeting  J.  S.  we  virtually  meet  the  whole 
force  of  the  liquor  interest  in  this  city,  and  are  afforded 
an  opportunity  of  speaking  to  the  public  upon  the 
subject  of  temperance,  and  because  he  has  been 
made  to  occupy  the  nadir  as  the  medium  of  the 
bad  logic  and  worse  business  of  the  liquor  vend- 
ers. It  is  really  afflicting  to  see  him  wiithe  under  the 
logic  which  proves  him  to  be  utterly  reckless  in 
charging  temperance  men  with  "  acting  from  prejudice 
or  revenge"  whilst  endeavoring  to  bring  the  arm  of 
the  law  to  bear  upon  drinking-houses,  declared  by  the 
political  associates  of  J.  S.  to  be  public  nuisances,  and 
for  the  abatement  of  which  they  have  made  legal  pro- 
vision, whilst  J.  S.  appears  at  the  portals  as  their 
zealous  defender.     "The  wounded  bird  will  flutter." 

But  J.  S.  very  promptly  leaves  this  absurd  posi- 
tion, and  informs  us  of  the  existence  of  brothels  and 
gambling  establishments  in  our  ward  and  city,  and 
seemingly  banters  us  to  plant  our  batteries  against 
those  great  evils.  We  think  that  by  planting  our  bat- 
tery against  intemperance  we  most  effectually  destroy 
all  these  and  many  associated  vices.  Intemperance,  as 
it  destroys  all  the  tender  sensibilities  of  {he  heart, 
banishes  the  native  modesty  of  our  nature,  removes 
the  sense  of  shame,  increases  the  desire  for  mere 
sensual  indulgences  and  selfish  gratifications,  opens 
the  door  for  all  the  vices  which  drown  the  world  in 
woe,  and  changes  man  into  a  demon  of  mischief  and  a 
demon  of  personal  misery,  should  call  forth  our  most 
vigorous  opposition.  What,  indeed,  is  left  of  virtue 
or  happiness  to  the  inebriate  ?  Who  can  follow  him 
anywhere  in  society,  especially  to  the  associations  of 
domestic  life,  without  being  shocked   at  every  step, 


238  Granville  Moody. 

and,  if  the  observer  is  capable  of  sympathy,  without 
having  his  heart  oppressed  with  anguish,  where,  in- 
stead of  the  affectionate  husband  and  kind  father,  or 
dutiful  son  or  loving  brother,  he  only  meets  the  be- 
sotted drunkard,  the  merciless  tyrant,  the  wreck  of 
every  virtue  and  of  every  endearing  tie  ? 

But  what  does  J.  S.  really  wish  ?  Does  he  wish 
to  come  out  and  directly  tell  us  that  he  is  the  ad- 
vocate of  drunkards  and  intemperance  ?  or  that  those 
who  make  drunkards  should  not  be  brought  out  of 
their  retreats,  and  their  efforts  prevented,  because, 
forsooth,  they  are  the  friends  of  society  and  the 
benefactors  of  mankind?  The  principle  involved  in 
his  anathemas  upon  those  who  would  apply  the 
liquor  law  would  prevent  the  application  and  execu- 
tion of  all  law. 

He  does  not  tell  us  this  plainly,  but  indirectly  at 
least ;  and,  though  it  is  right  to  arrest  a  man  who 
steals  our  property,  or  who  has  broken  into  our  houses 
at  night,  endangering  our  lives,  or  the  man  who  coun- 
terfeits the  public  currency  or  coin,  or  the  man  who, 
in  our  markets,  sells  unwholesome  meat,  yet,  ac- 
cording to  J.  S.,  nothing  but  "revenge  or  prejudice" 
can  possibly  induce  us  to  oppose  strenuously  practices 
which  produce,  directly  or  indirectly,  nearly  all  those 
cases  of  crime  which  crowd  the  criminal  docket  of 
this  and  every  other  county  in  Ohio.  And,  indeed, 
the  thief  and  the  burglar  and  the  counterfeiter,  and 
the  butcher  who  sells  diseased  meat  in  our  mar- 
kets, are  as  thoroughly  shielded  by  the  arguments  of 
J.  S.  as  the  man  who  violates  the  liquor  law.  Each 
of  these  offenders  might  cry  out  with  J.  S.  against 
those  who  would  maintain  the  law  of  the  State  against 
them.  "O,  you  are  mischief-makers,  you  are  inform- 
ers '  for  prejudice  or  from  revenge,'  you  belong  to  the 


Temperance.  239 

class  of  hangmen ;"  and  they  would  be  as  likely  to  do 
so  as  J.  S.  and  the  men  he  defends ;  for 

"No  rogue  e'er  felt  the  halter  draw 
With  good  opinion  of  the  law ; 
Or  held  the  statute  orthodox 
With  love  of  justice,  in  the  stocks." 

Thus  we  are  shut  up  to  the  conclusion  that  J.  S., 
dissatisfied  with  the  legislation  which  "provides  against 
the  evils  arising  from  the  liquor-traffic,"  hopes  to  make 
it  inoperative  by  deterring  our  citizens  from  applying 
it,  as  also  all  future  legislation  and  efforts  of  the  kind; 
and  thus  does  he  lend  his  influence  to  sustain  the 
cause  of  intemperance,  and  his  measures,  harmless  only 
from  their  impotency,  if  completely  successful,  would 
convert  our  great  nation  into  a  nation  of  drunkards." 

But  J.  S.  insists  upon  our  making  an  attack  upon 
the  brothels  and  gambling-hells  which,  he  informs  us, 
do  really  exist  in  our  ward  and  city,  and  he  makes 
earnest  inquiry,  Why  do  we  not  attend  to  these  ?  We 
answer,  first :  Suppose  we  should,  would  not  J.  S.  hurl 
his  anathemas  upon  us  as  "informers  for  prejudice  or 
from  revenge,"  and  assail  us  as  "  mischief-makers," 
"disturbers  of  the  peace,"  and  endeavor  to  make  us 
"odious  as  spies  and  hangmen?"  For  this  is  the 
broad  position  he  has  taken  in  his  articles,  and  con- 
sistency would  require  him  to  do  so ;  and  if  decency 
would  not  allow  him  to  defend  brothels  and  gambling 
as  he  has  defended  grog-shops  and  drinking-houses, 
some  other  staunch  defender  of  these  "  pet  curses " 
could  adopt  the  language  of  J.  S.,  and  with  as  much 
propriety   too,  as  in  the  cause  he  advocates. 

We  answer,  secondly :  That  the  removal  of  the 
facilities  for  intemperance  is  the  most  effectual,  and 
almost  the  only,  way  of  reaching  those  nuisances 
of  which  he  speaks,  and  which  are  directly  sustained 


240  Granville  Moody. 

by  the  makers  and  venders  of  intoxicating  liquors; 
nuisances  which  could  not  exist  under  the  influence 
of  temperance  ;  nuisances  which  live,  move,  and  have 
their  birth  and  being  in  the  legally  declared  nuisance 
of  intemperance,  on  whose  citadel  J.  S.  stands  sen- 
tinel. Hence  the  outcry  of  Demetrius  and  his  fellow- 
craftsmen,  "Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians,"  when- 
ever this  mercenary  and  soul-destroying  craft  is  as- 
sailed;  and,  indeed,  J.  S.  unwittingly  concedes  our 
whole  argument,  for  he  tells  us  that  gamblers  in  this 
city  have  posted  on  the  walls  of  one  of  their  rooms  the 
following  motto:  "Let  him  drink  and  forget  his  pov- 
erty, and  remember  his  misery  no  more."  He  also 
says  that  "professional  gamblers  do  not  drink;  they 
are  too  wide  awake  for  that — only  their  victims  drink  ;" 
and,  therefore,  the  motto  was  intended  for  them.  Ah, 
murder  will  out.  J.  S.  states  here  that  gamblers  de- 
pend on  intemperance  for  their  success — fatal  admis- 
sion, "only  their  victims  drink."  Well,  then,  if  their 
success  depends  on  intemperance,  shall  we  not  then 
most  effectually  prevent  the  success  of  gamblers  ?  Out 
of  thine  own  mouth,  J.  S.,  we  find  the  vindication  of 
our  course  in  endeavoring  to  circumvent  the  prolific 
crime  of  intemperance.  Verily,  as  gamblers  depend 
on  intemperance  for  their  success,  they  will,  no  doubt* 
feel  much  indebted  to  J.  S.  for  opposing  those  who 
would  stay  the  devastating  tide  of  intemperance  by 
which  their  business  thrives. 

From  this  concession  it  does  appear  that  the  better 
judgment  of  J.  S.  has  not  entirely  submitted  to  the 
injurious  and  destructive  claims  of  the  cause  he  de- 
fends ;  but  if  he  is  sincere,  why  does  he  endeavor  to 
hinder  those  healthful  movements  against  intemper- 
ance? "Consistency,  thou  art  a  jewel."  J.  S.  very 
properly  expresses  his  indignation  against  the  beastly, 


.    Temperance.  241 

loathsome,  and  debasing  vice  of  prostitution,  which 
furnishes  such  an  exhibition  of  shamelessness,  and  we 
deeply  lament  that  there  is  to  be  found  in  our  beau- 
tiful city,  and  especially  in  the  Fifth  Ward,  a  place 
which  answers  so  exactly  to  the  description  given  in 
the  Bible  of  her  "  whose  house  is  the  way  to  hell, 
going  down  to  the  chambers  of  death ;  yea,  many 
strong  men  have  been  slain  by  her,  and  her  guests  are 
in  the  depths  of  hell." 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  our  laws,  which  punish 
such  houses,  as  well  as  their  nurseries,  the  grog-shops, 
are  not  more  vigorously  executed.  Benevolence  to 
society,  and  true  philanthropy,  would  justify  such  en- 
forcement. And  it  is  still  more  to  be  regretted  that 
every  attempt  to  suppress  intemperance,  the  foster- 
mother  of  these  hyenas  of  society,  should  be  ascribed 
to  "  revenge  or  prejudice."  Does  not  J.  S.  know  that 
intemperance  does  more  to  produce  debauchery  and 
gambling  than  any  thing  else  in  our  land  ?  Do  not 
these  vices  belong  to  the  family  of  vices  produced  or 
nourished  by  intemperance  ?  Hence,  in  opposing  in- 
temperance, we  but  lay  the  ax  at  the  root  of  this 
upas-tree;  but  J.  S.  cries  out,  Hands  off,  hands  off;  it 
is  all  "prejudice  or  revenge;"  and  thus  does  he  be- 
come in  effect  the  defender  of  both  prostitution  and 
gambling,  and  a  fearful  brood  of  crimes  incubated  by 
intemperance. 

J.  S.  thinks  that  "the  devil  can  be  seen  by  some 
only  in. a  glass  of  rum."  Verily  we  think  the  man 
must  be  under  the  influence  of  several  glasses  of  rum, 
who  fails  to  see  the  demon  there,  whose  name  is 
legion.  But  J.  S.  tells  us  there  is  no  mystery  about 
this  liquor-traffic ;  it  is  regulated  precisely  as  every 
other  article  in  the  market,  by  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand,  hence  ;   so  long  as    there    is   a  demand  for 


242  Granville  Moody. 

liquor  of  any  kind,  there  will  be  found  men  to  meet 
the  demand  in  spite  of  the  most  stringent  legal  enact- 
ments ;  no  power  on  God's  earth  can  prevent  it. 

Stop,  stop,  J.  S. ;  you  go  too  fast.  We  know  now  by 
what  medium  your  mysteries  are  cleared  up;  but  in 
the  liquor-traffic  it  is  obvious  that  your  philosophy  is  at 
fault.  The  fact  is,  the  supply  of  liquor  creates  the  de- 
mand, and  not  the  demand  the  supply,  for  the  appe- 
tite is  an  artificial  one,  and  not  natural ;  it  is  an  ac- 
quired one.  The  supply  and  presence  of  the  article 
produce  the  appetite.  It  is  the  nature  of  every  vice 
to  increase  its  own  demands  in  proportion  to  the  sup- 
ply of  the  means  of  gratification.  Remove  the  supply, 
and  the  appetite  decreases  and  dies  out,  for  it  is  not  a 
natural  one.  Remove  the  facilities  for  procuring 
liquor,  and  men  will  do  without  it,  to  the  advance- 
ment of  every  interest. 

This  is  also  the  case  with  tobacco  and  opium.  No 
one  has  a  natural  appetite  for  them;  it  is  an  acquired 
one.  The  presence  and  use  of  these  articles  is  the  oc- 
casion of  the  appetite,  and  in  proportion  to  the  abun- 
dance of  the  supply  will  be  the  use.  Now,  we  propose 
to  banish  intoxicating  liquor  from  society  as  a  bever- 
age; and,  if  no  supply,  there  will  be  no  demand,  as  the 
appetite  for  alcohol  is  artificial  and  not  natural.  And 
O,  how  many  inebriates  would  rejoice,  as  they  have 
often  said,  if  the  accursed  thing  were  placed  out  of 
their  way,  that  they  might  not  be  led  into  temptation ! 
So  with  brothels  and  gaming  establishments.  Their 
presence  is  the  occasion  of  the  ruin  of  thousands  who 
would  not  be  wrecked  in  circumstances,  in  body,  in 
soul,  and  in  hope,  if  these  accursed  places  did  not 
afford  such  facilities  for  debasing  bestiality  and  hor- 
rid crimes.  And  when  we  consider  how  intemper- 
ance inflames  the  passions  of  both  soul  and  body,  we 


Temperance.  243 

need  not  wonder  that  gaming-houses  and  places  of 
prostitution  are  patronized  as  extensively  as  J.  S.,  who 
has  turned  "  public  informer"  in  these  base  crimes, 
attests,  though  we  charitably  hope  he  has  not  turned 
informer  "for  prejudice  and  from  revenge." 

We  highly  approve  of  the  regard  which  J.  S.  pro- 
fesses for  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath,  and  we  will 
render  him  all  proper  aid  in  maintaining  its  benign 
influences.  And  we  rejoice  also  to  know  that  the 
entire  history  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle  sheds  its 
luster  on  the  ancient  and  patriotic  New  England  name 
so  intimately  interwoven  with  its  events  from  A.  D. 
1632  through  all  its  variant  but  progressive  changes. 
We  are  not  concerned  about  the  puerile  and  virulent 
personalities  of  this  would-be  censor.  His  first  and 
last  communications  abound  in  low,  ribald  person- 
alities, the  perpetration  of  which  was  manifestly  the 
design  of  both  communications ;  for  no  one  ever 
charged  "prejudice  and  revenge"  on  principles,  as  they 
are  only  predicable  of  persons.  We  would  remind  him 
of  the  fable  of  the  viper  gnawing  the  file.  Meanwhile, 
we  assure  J.  S.  that  we  feel  no  bitterness  against  him, 
and  we  are  really  sorry  that  the  efforts  to  promote  a 
cause  so  important  to  the  welfare  of  our  city  should 
have  roused  his  mind  and  waked  up  his  wrath  and 
indignation.  And  we  regret  to  learn  that  on  former 
occasions  he  has  appeared  as  the  opponent  of  the 
cause  of  temperance.  And  we  further  regret  that,  in 
entering  the  arena,  he  chose  the  weapon  of  person- 
alities, so  plentifully  exhibited  in  both  warp  and  woof 
of  his  loosely  woven  web. 

From  the  piteous  complaints,  the  contortions  of 
countenance,  and  abhorrent  grimaces  which  he  makes 
when  the  cup  he  mingled  for  others  is  returned  to  his 
own  lips,  we  infer  that  he  does  n't  like  the  mixture ; 


244  Granville  Moody. 

but  we  think  it  will  be  medicinal ;  and  from  the  im- 
proved tone  of  his  last  communication,  we  have  con- 
siderable hope  for  our  patient. 

To  conclude  for  the  present,  I  thank  J.  S.  for 
affording  the  occasion  of  addressing  thousands  of  my 
fellow-citizens  on  the  high,  mighty,  moral  principles 
and  social  interests  connected  with  the  benevolent  and 
philanthropic  cause  of  temperance.  With  this  end  in 
view  I  can  very  easily  bear  the  unfounded  reproach 
and  toothless  personalities  of  this  knight-errant  of  in- 
temperance. And  we  read  that:  "Blessed  are  ye 
when  men  shall  revile  you  and  persecute  you,  and 
shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely  for  my 
sake."  Meanwhile,  this  case  affords  an  encouraging 
illustration  of  the  great  truth  that  even  "the  wrath  of 
man  shall  praise  the  L,ord,  and  the  remainder  of  wrath 
will  he  restrain."  M. 

Mr.  Editor, — I  notice  a  third  communication 
from  J.  S.  in  the  Empire  of  the  21st,  containing  the 
usual  quantum  of  abuse  and  reiteration  of  demolished 
charges;  to  all  of  which  I  wish  briefly  to  reply,  that 
the  case  being  now  fairly  before  the  public,  I  am 
willing  to  leave  it  to  their  verdict,  believing  they  are 
competent  to  determine  what  has  been  accomplished. 
Meanwhile,  my  own  conviction  is,  if  possible,  more 
firmly  established  than  ever,  that  true  benevolence  and 
philanthropy  would  require  us  to  exterminate  the 
traffic  in  liquor,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  the  public  in 
general,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  liquor-seller,  who  him- 
self is  very  generally  the  victim  of  his  own  wicked 
and  criminal  business. 

As  to  the  charge  that  clergymen  are  sometimes 
mischief-makers,  disturbers  of  the  peace,  etc.,  they 
must  expect  to  suffer  such  imputations  for  the  part 


Temperance.  245 

they  may  think  it  their  duty  to  take  in  opposing  vice. 
I  rejoice  to  know  that  the  same  charge  has  been  made 
against  them  in  proportion  to  their  activity  in  advo- 
cating the  right  and  the  true  and  the  good,  from  time 
immemorial.  Elijah  was  charged  with  being  a  troubler 
cf  Israel.  The  apostles  were  charged  with  troubling 
the  city  exceedingly;  and  on  another  occasion  Paul 
and  Silas  were  charged  with  having  "turned  the  world 
upside  down ;"  and  well  was  it  for  the  world,  for  it 
had  been  wrong  side  up  for  a  long  time,  and  it  is  not 
yet  fully  righted.  Even  Jesus  was  reviled  in  the 
same  way;  and  "if  they  have  called  the  Master 
Beelzebub,  how  much  more  them  of  his  household." 
We  know  how  it  has  been  with  those  who  have  labored 
in  the  cause  of  moral  reform,  always  and  everywhere ; 
and  knowing  what  to  expect,  we  do  not  complain. 

I  am  sorry  to  learn,  as  I  do  from  an  intimation  in 
the  last  communication  of  J.  S.,  that  he  has  received 
threatening  anonymous  letters  from  some  source  or 
other.  Why  any  one  should  threaten  him  I  know  not; 
yet  that  he  has  been  threatened,  anonymously,  I  can  not 
doubt,  for  it  would  be  unkind  even  to  suspect  that 
he  is  rehearsing  on  a  small  scale  the  ludicrous  farce  of 
"Payne,  the  Great  Shot  At."  He  says,  however,  in 
regard  to  these  threatening  anonymous  correspond- 
ents, that  he  is  ready  "to  spit  upon  them  and  kick 
them  like  the  filthiest  poodle"  in  his  path.  This  is 
right.  Whether  they  are  Church  members  or  Gentiles, 
we  think  they  do  deserve  a  castigation  for  their  im- 
proper interference,  and  we  think  J.  S.  has  hit  upon 
the  very  best  way  of  treating  them.  Deserving  of 
punishment  as  they  are,  he  acts  wisely  to  substitute 
kicking  for  writing ;  for  it  is  very  certain  they  will  be 
more  likely  to  get  their  deserts  from  his  boots  than 
from  his  pen. 


246  Granville  Moody. 

In  taking  our  leave  of  J.  S.  for  the  present,  we 
assure  him  that  he  has  our  best  wishes  for  his  wel- 
fare. We  should  not  have  troubled  him  or  the  public 
with  a  single  line  but  for  the  defense  and  advocacy  of 
the  moral  principles,  social  interests,  and  civil  order 
involved  in  the  holy  cause  of  temperance.  M. 

Mr.  Editor, — J.  S.  makes  another  desperate  but 
ineffectual  effort  to  extricate  himself  from  the  diffi- 
culties which  environ  him  in  his  absurd  position  as 
the  knight-errant  of  the  grog-shops.  He  admits  that 
if  our  case  were  at  all  analagous  to  the  case  of  Elijah 
and  others  specified  by  me,  all  of  whom  were  charged 
with  being  mischief-makers,  troublers  of  the  people, 
etc.,  there  would  be  some  force  in  our  plea ;  but  he 
thinks  our  case  is  "as  wide  from  theirs  as  a  good 
action  is  from  a  bad  one."  Well,  then,  let  us  see. 
Our  offense  is,  that  we  counseled  the  forming  of  a 
Committee  of  Vigilance,  composed  of  twenty  men,  to 
aid  in  the  enforcement  of  the  law  "  to  provide  against 
the  evils  resulting  from  the  liquor-traffic ;"  and  we  may 
state  that,  by  a  subsequent  vote,  over  five  hundred  per- 
sons added  themselves  to  the  committee  aforesaid,  and 
not  merely  or  mainly  as  Church  members,  but  the 
good  and  true  citizens  of  Dayton  generally.  This, 
then,  "is  the  head  and  front  of  our  offending"  to  J  S. 
and  the  grog-shop  keepers;  for  truly  "their  craft  is  in 
danger." 

J.  S.  says  those  ancient  worthies,  as  Elijah  and 
others,  "were  not  the  means  of  having  men  dragged 
before  authority  for  the  vengeance  of  the  law,"  as  he 
gratuitously  designates  its  penalties.  What  ?  Did  not 
Elijah  accuse,  and  publicly  too,  those  wicked  men  who 
led  the  Israelites  away  from  God  by  their  sins;  and 
did  not  that  wicked  Ahab,  who  sold  himself  to  work 


Temperance.  247 

iniquity,  say  unto  Elijah  :  "  Art  thou  he  who  troubleth 
Israel?"  And  Elijah  answered  and  said:  "I  have  not 
troubled  Israel;  but  thou  and  thy  father's  house,  in 
that  ye  have  forsaken  the  commandments  of  the 
Lord."  And  did  not  Elijah  gather  to  Mount  Carmel 
the  nine  hundred  and  fifty  prophets  of  Baal  and  the 
groves,  and  did  not  Elijah  say  unto  them :  "Take  the 
prophets  of  Baal,  let  not  one  of  them  escape?"  And 
they  took  them,  and  Elijah  brought  them  down  to 
the  brook  Kishon,  and  slew  them  there.  Verily  he 
dragged  them  before  authority,  in  a  sense  and  to  an  ex- 
tent immeasurably  beyond  anything  that  we  ever  coun- 
seled or  imagined  with  regard  to  liquor-sellers,  for  our 
object  is  simply  to  terminate  their  ruinous  business  by 
appropriate  legal  suasion,  though  drunkenness  is  as  de- 
structive of  all  human  interests  as  was  the  base  idola- 
try of  Baal.  Nor  do  we  wonder  that  Ahab,  whose  in- 
terests were  as  intimately  identified  with  the  accursed 
false  prophets  as  the  interests  and  propensities  of  J.  S. 
are  with  the  liquor-sellers,  should  cry  out  to  Elijah  as 
J.  S.  does  to  us  :  uO  thou  clerical  meddler,  thou  mis- 
chief-maker, art  thou  he  that  troubleth  Israel?" 
Thus  we  see  that  the  charge  of  J.  S.  puts  him  along- 
side of  Ahab,  and  is  just  as  untrue  as  to  the  friends 
of  temperance  as  was  the  charge  of  that  wicked  Ahab, 
who  sold  himself  to  work  iniquity,  as  alleged  against 
Elijah ;  and  therefore,  as  J.  S.  acknowledges  that  our 
plea  would  have  some  force  if  the  case  was  at  all 
analogous  to  the  persons  referred  to,  and  as  we  have 
shown  the  strict  and  striking  analogy,  as  far  as  our 
case  goes,  we  have  the  acknowledgment  of  J.  S.  to 
the  justice  of  our  plea.  He  justifies  us  and  con- 
demns himself. 

Did  not  John  the   Baptist  publicly  accuse  Herod 
for   his  unlawful   conduct   with   Herodias,   saying  to 


248  Granville  Moody. 

him,  "It  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  have  thy  brother 
Philip's  wife?"  Had  J.  S.  nourished  eighteen  hundred 
years  sooner  he  might  have  enjoyed  the  honor  and 
emolument  of  being  private  secretary  to  Herodias,  and 
would  have  astonished  the  natives  with  his  philippics 
against  John  the  Baptist,  charging  him  with  "bad,  un- 
christian motives,"  guilty  of  espionage  upon  the  pri- 
vacy of  his  neighbors,  a  spy  on  the  private  doings  of 
his  fellow-men,  and  a  public  informer  for  prejudice 
and  revenge.  And  thus  has  it  ever  been  that  those 
who  are  active  in  arresting  the  progress  of  vice  have 
been  styled  meddlesome  persons,  mischief-makers,  and 
are  charged  with  the  worst  motives  for  their  best 
actions.  Now,  as  we  show  a  strict  and  striking  analogy 
between  our  case  and  theirs,  we  "make  out  our  plea 
with  force,"  J.  S.  being  judge,  and  all  his  vaporing 
vanishes. 

But  J.  S.  tells  us  that  our  benevolence  in  exterminat- 
ing the  liquor-traffic  is  to  the  grog-shop  keeper  like 
the  benevolence  of  the  vulture  to  the  lamb.  What ! 
would  J.  S.  have  us  believe  that  grog-shop  keepers  are 
lambs?  Is  the  meek,  innocent,  and  useful  lamb  the 
symbol  of  their  nature  and  business,  and  is  J.  S.  their 
shepherd,  kind  and  vigilant,  "whose  friendly  crook 
shall  give  them  aid,"  and  drive  away  the  ugly  vul- 
tures, the  temperance  men,  far  "from  the  green  pas- 
tures and  the  still  waters"  where  they  rove  or  rest? 
And  how  absurd  to  compare  temperance  men  to 
vultures !  It  is  contemptible  and  ridiculous  in  the 
extreme,  equaled  only  by  the  ravings  of  the  maniac 
under  the  influence  of  delirium  tremens.  Rather  look 
the  truth  in  the  face,  and  acknowledge  that  our  benevo- 
lent and  philanthropic  design  is  to  save  community, 
and  liquor-sellers  too,  from  the  dark  vultures  of  intem- 
perance, whose  gloomy  shadows  dim  the  light  of  every 


Temperance.  249 

earthly  joy,  and  shut  out  the  hope  of  heaven,  whilst 
they  prey  upon  the  vital  interests  of  society  in  every  de- 
partment. We  would  save  the  liquor-seller  from  a  busi- 
ness in  which  he  lives  to  counteract  the  benevolence 
of  God  and  man,  and  send  want  and  misery  and  infamy 
and  death  into  habitations  otherwise  the  abode  of  com- 
fort and  hope.  We  would  save  him  from  an  employ- 
ment in  which  he  barters  disease  and  famine  and  riot 
and  ruin  for  money  to  hoard  up,  to  boast  of,  and  be 
ruined  by.  His  business  debases  him ;  and  for  paltry 
pelf  he  can  take  the  beloved  wife,  and  crucify  her  hus- 
band, and  turn  her  from  her  home  to  starve  and  freeze, 
and  make  her  children  beggars  and  homeless  and 
fatherless,  at  a  price  at  which  one  would  hardly  cut  off 
the  head  of  a  dog. 

Surely  the  greatest  earthly  curse  would  be  to  be 
condemned  to  such  a  business ;  for  the  most  reliable 
information  shows  that  the  venders  of  ardent  spirits 
not  unfrequently  become  its  most  signal  victims. 
"  In  one  street  in  the  city  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  the  history 
of  the  keepers  of  seven  grog-shops  was  ascertained  for  a 
period  of  ten  years.  Not  one  had  prospered,  and  most 
of  them  had  become  drunkards.  In  one  house,  three 
successive  occupants  had  died  of  delirium  tremens;  in 
another,  the  keeper,  while  laboring  under  the  horrible 
disease,  jumped  from  an  upper  window,  broke  his 
back,  and  died  in  great  agony.  And  it  is  a  significant 
fact  that,  in  a  neighboring  State's  prison,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  the  prisoners  have  been  liquor-sellers." 
Alas !  he  ruins  his  family  to  gain  pelf,  and  schools  his 
offspring  in  his  own  house,  with  the  tippler,  the  lewd, 
and  the  lost;  and  his  children  rise  up  and  call  him 
cursed !  And  THIS  is  not  all,  for  his  business  tends 
to  the  undoing  of  himsef  and  his  family  and  his  cus- 
tomers.    It  seals  them  over  to  the  adversary,  and  con- 


250  Granville  Moody. 

firms  them  as  the  enemies  of  righteousness  through 
all  the  future  periods  of  their  being !  O,  is  it  not  be- 
nevolent to  stop  a  business  that  so  mars  and  spoils 
the  works  of  God  ?  Can  it  be  viewed  as  a  wanton  of- 
ficiousness  that  would  apply  moral  and  legal  suasion 
combined,  to  put  this  crying  evil  far  from  us  ?  We 
claim  in  our  favor  every  law  of  nature,  of  God,  and  of 
man — the  law  of  kindness,  humanity,  self-preserva- 
tion and  necessity — in  our  endeavor  to  dam,  divert, 
or  dry  up  that  flood  of  intemperance,  which  is  pour- 
ing desolation  upon  society  and  upon  souls  for  time 
and  for  eternity.  And  yet  J.  S.  would  act  over,  on  a 
small  scale,  the  Nero  of  antiquity,  who  sewed  Chris- 
tians up  in  the  skins  of  wild  animals,  and,  thus  dis- 
figured and  disguised,  let  loose  ferocious  dogs  upon 
them. 

When  J.  S.  shall  succeed  in  showing  that  grog- 
shops are  not  what  the  law  declares  them,  "  nuisances ;" 
when  he  shall  show  that  the  business  is  not  injurious 
alike  to  the  highest  and  the  lower  interests  of  society  ; 
then,  and  only  then,  will  he  succeed  in  his  cherished 
object  of  rendering  the  enforcement  of  the  liquor  law 
odious.  Meanwhile  he  appears  in  open  hostility  to 
this  act  of  the  Legislature,  and  is  engaged  in  a  crusade 
against  the  good  it  aims  to  accomplish.  But  the  peo- 
ple understand  him.  They  know  his  latitude  and  his 
longitude,  his  interests  and  his  instincts,  and  I  rejoice 
to  know  that  his  efforts  have  but  stimulated  them 
to  duty. 

We  would  not  reflect  on  the  discernment  of  the 
public  so  much  as  to  point  out  the  weakness  of  the 
efforts  of  J.  S.  by  any  further  argumentation.  His 
ridiculous  reiteration  of  exploded  charges,  shows  con- 
clusively that  he  has  absolutely  nothing  on  which  to 
depend,  to   cover  his    defeat,  but  misrepresentations 


Temperance.  251 

and  abuse.  And  they  are  as  harmless  as  the  feeble 
yelpings  of  the  poodle  at  the  passing  moon.  We 
must  be  excused  from  noticing  him  any  further  at 
present,  on  the  principle  set  forth  in  the  reason  as- 
signed by  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  who,  after 
listening  to  an  abusive  and  empty  speech  from  a 
young  and  conceited  man  in  his  maiden  effort,  rose 
and  said:  "Mr.  Speaker  and  gentlemen  of  the  House, 
you  will  please  excuse  me  from  making  any  reply  to 
the  individual  who  has  just  addressed  you;  for  I  always 
hated  to  strike  at  nothing,  it  wrenches  a  body  so." 

We  shall  not  waste  time  in  reiterating  our  argu- 
ments, by  which  the  ridiculous  charges  of  J.  S.  have 
been  demolished,  and  on  account  of  which  he  is  so 
nettled  and  sore.  We  only  regret  that  we  have  not 
found  in  him  a  more  competent  and  honorable  oppo- 
nent ;    for  we  have  been  deprived  of 

"  The  stern  joy  that  warriors  feel 
In  foeman  worthy  of  their  steel." 

J.  S.  inquires  with  credulity  and  alarm  for  the  five 
hundred  auxiliaries  to  the  Committee  of  Vigilance. 
Had  he  attended  the  public  temperance-meeting  in  the 
Fifth  Ward,  he  would  have  had  ocular  demonstration  of 
the  re-enforcement,  when  by  rising  vote  they  declared 
their  determination  to  aid  the  Committee  of  Vigilance 
in  their  duties.  These  things  were  not  done  in  a 
corner ;  and  politically,  ecclesiastically,  and  in  the 
temperance  cause,  we  know  nothing  of  the  "Know 
Nothings;"  all  we  ask  is  an  open  field  and  a  fair 
chance.  M. 

REASONS  FOR  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  SALE  AND 
USE  OF  LIQUORS. 

Does  any  one  ask  the  reasons  for  our  opposition  to 
the  sale  or  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage, 


252  Granville  Moody. 

or  a  vindication  of  our  principles  as  a  temperance  ad- 
vocate, we  reply :   First.  The  Bible,  that  duly  authen- 
ticated revelation  of  the  mind   and  will  of  God,  pro- 
nounces against  it  most  emphatically.     Note  then  : 
Its  utterances  in  Noah's  disgrace  and  drunkenness. 
Lot's  incest  and  injury  by  intoxication. 
Law  of  the  Nazarite.     (Num.  vi,  1-6.) 
Wine  forbidden  to  priests.     (Lev.  x,  8,  9.) 
Nadab  and  Abihu  killed  by  God   for  intoxication. 
(Lev.  x,  8,  9.) 

Son,  a  drunkard,  stoned  to  death.     (Deut.  xxi,  22.) 
History  of   Israel  in    the  wilderness — forty   years 
total  abstinence.     (Deut.  xxix,  6.) 

Curse  of  the  law  against  drunkenness.  (Deut. 
xxix,  19.) 

Samson's    mother    prohibited    wine.     (Judg.  xiii, 

4>   I4-) 

David  made  Uriah  drunk  to  cover  his  own  crime. 

(2  Sam.  xi,  13.) 

Nabal  represented  by  his  wife  as  such  a  son  of 
Belial,  that  no  one  could  speak  to  the  pesky  toper. 
(1  Sam.  xxv,  36.) 

Elah  hurled  from  his  throne  while  drunk.  (1  Kings, 
xvi,  8.) 

Ben-hadad  drunk  and  conquered.  (1  Kings,  xx,  13.) 

Who  hath  woe?  Who  hath  wounds  without 
cause?  Who  hath  redness  of  eyes?  They  that  tarry 
long  at  the  wine.     (Prov.  xxiii,  20.) 

Be  not  with  wine-bibbers,  or  thou  shalt  come  to 
poverty.  Wine  is  a  mocker;  strong  drink  is  raging.  He 
that  is  deceived  thereby  is  not  wise.     (Prov.  xx,  1.) 

Not  for  kings  to  drink  wine  lest  they  forget  the 
law.     (Prov.  xxxi,  4.) 

Solomon  gave  his  heart  to  wine,  vanity,  and  vexa- 
tion.    (Eccl.  ii,  3,  11.) 


Temperance.  253 

Woe  unto  them  that  rise  up  early,  in  the  morn- 
ing, that  they  may  follow  strong  drink.     (Isa.  v,  11.) 

Woe  to  him  who  is  mighty  to  drink  mixed  wines. 
(Isa.  xxii,  23.) 

Strong  drink  shall  be  bitter  to  them  that  drink  it. 
(Isa.  xxiv,  9.) 

Woe  to  the  drunkards  of  Ephraim.     (Isa.  xxviii, 

1-7- 

Rechabites,  honored  of  God  and  total  abstinence. 
(Jer.  xxxv,  2-6.) 

Daniel  and  Hebrew  children  teetotalers.  (Dan.  i,  8.) 

Belshazzar's  drunken,  impious  feast.     (Dan.  v,  1.) 

God  praised  their  sons  for  Nazarites.*    (Am.  ii,  11.) 

Woe  to  them  that  are  at  ease  in  Zion,  and  drink 
wine  in  bowls.     (Am.  vi,  6.) 

Woe  to  him  that  putteth  his  bottle  to  his  neigh- 
bor's lips,  and  maketh  him  drunken.     (Hab.  ii,  15.) 

John  the  Baptist  used  no  wine  or  strong  drink. 
(Lukei,  15.) 

If  found  with  drunkards  he  shall  be  cut  off. 
(Matt,  xxiv,  49.) 

If  overcome  with  drunkenness  we  shall  perish. 
(Luke  xxi,  34.) 

The  wicked  slandered  the  apostles  as  if  drunk  on 
Pentecost.     (Acts  ii.) 

The  wicked  slandered  Jesus  as  if  he  were  a  wine- 
bibber.     (Matt,  xi,  19.) 

Good  not  to  drink  wine  whereby  my  brother  stum- 
bleth.     (Rom.  xiv,  21.) 

With  drunkards,  no,  not  to  eat.     (1  Cor.  v,  11.) 

Drunkards  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God. 
(1  Cor.  vi,  10.) 

Works  of  flesh  are  drunkenness.     (Gal.  v,  21.) 

Be  not  drunk  with  wine  wherein  is  excess.  (Kph. 
v,  18.) 


254  Granville  Moody. 

Bishops  must  not  be  given  to  wine,    (i  Tim,  iii,  3.) 

God's  judgments  are  represented  as  cups  of  strong 
drink.     (Rev.  xiv,  10.) 

Thus  promptly  and  kindly  would  the  genius  of 
temperance,  speaking  to  us  through  the  Bible,  warn 
us  of  evil,  and  dash  from  our  lips  and  hands  the  cup 
of  devils,  from  whose  beaded  rim  the  most  deadly  ex- 
halations rise.  Indeed,  on  this  subject  a  hyperbole  of 
description  would  still  prove  an  ellipsis  of  the  mournful 
results  of  the  practice  of  intoxication. 

Second.  What  are  the  facts  with  respect  to  the 
great  social  vice? — 

1.  That  nine-tenths  of  the  inmates  of  poor-houses 
were  brought  there  by  intoxication. 

2.  That  three-fourths  of  all  the  convicts  in  our 
penitentiaries  were  habitual  drinkers  before  the  com- 
mission of  the  crimes  for  which  they  were  arrested. 

3.  That  ninety  one-hundredths  of  all  suicides  are 
the  immediate  or  remote  victims  of  intemperance. 

4.  That  in  three-fourths  of  all  insolvencies  and 
bankruptcies  rum  has  been  the  cause. 

5.  That  seventy-five  per  cent  of  dishonest  clerks, 
book-keepers,  treasurers,  and  others  in  offices  of  trust, 
are  intemperate  men. 

6.  That  sixty  per  cent  of  all  the  troubles  among 
officers  and  men  in  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United 
States  are  attributed  to  intemperance. 

7.  That  three-fourths  of  all  political  disasters  and 
failures  in  official  stations  are  traced  to  the  bottle. 

8.  That  three-fourths  of  all  collisions  on  railroads 
and  explosions  of  boilers  or  collisions  of  steamers  are 
from  the  bottle. 

9.  That  eighty  per  cent  of  divorces  and  domestic 
infelicities  belong  to  rum. 

10.  That  in  all  families  where  the  children  are  neg- 


Temperance.  255 

lected  and  dirty,  half  naked  and  half  fed,  rooms  in 
disorder  and  filthy,  husbands  cross  and  discontented, 
wives  slatterns,  peevish,  ill-tempered,  pesky,  and  quar- 
relsome, one  or  both  parents  are  intemperate. 

11.  That  those  who  least  frequently  attend  the 
house  of  God,  and  shock  ears  polite  with  profanity  and 
ribaldry,  are  drinking  characters. 

12.  That  seldom  does  a  liquor-dealer  have  cheek 
enough  to  show  himself  in  any  church  of  God. 

13.  That  nearly  all  the  evils  afore-stated  originate 
in  the  saloons  and  dram-shops  of  our  land,  the  purlieus 
of  perdition  and  breathing  holes  of  hell. 

14.  That  many  of  the  troubles  in  our  Churches 
are  traceable  to  intemperance. 

15.  That  losses  of  property  by  fire  are  traceable  to 
liquor,  directly  or  indirectly. 

16.  That  three-fourths  of  all  our  taxes  for  the 
prosecution  of  crime  are  occasioned  by  the  liquor- 
traffic. 

17.  That  seven-eighths  of  all  criminal  cases  in  our 
courts  come  from  rum. 

18.  More  than  two-thirds  of  all  rum-sellers  fall  vic- 
tims to  their  own  evil  business,  and  a  like  proportion 
of  their  families. 

19.  Because  the  vile  and  poisonous  adulterations 
of  wine,  beer,  ale,  and  whisky  are  deleterious  to  the 
health  of  those  who  use  them. 

20.  That  seven-eighths  of  the  victims  of  cholera 
are  found  among  drunkards. 

21.  That  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  victims 
of  intemperance  are  hurried  to  the  grave  annually  in 
the  United  States. 

22.  That  merchants,  mechanics,  farmers,  doctors, 
and  lawyers  find  most  of  the  losses  which  they  are 
compelled  to  sustain  are  occasioned  by  drunkards. 


256  Granville  Moody. 

23.  That  intemperance  corrupts  our  politics,  and 
subjects  our  voters  to  the  rum-sellers. 

24.  That  rum  has  been  the  ruin  of  the  poor  Indians, 
the  wards  of  the  nation. 

25.  That  nothing  so  effectually  hinders  the  coming 
of  Christ's  kingdom  on  earth  as  intemperance. 

26.  That  nothing  so  much  hinders  the  increase 
of  the  elect  as  rum. 

27.  That  nothing  so  rapidly  fills  up  the  ranks  of 
the  reprobates  as  rum.     Ah  ! 

"  Let  thy  devotees  extol  thee, 
And  thy  vaunted  virtues  sum ; 
But  the  worst  of  names  I'll  call  thee, 
O,  thou  hydra-monster,  Rum  !" 

Shakespeare  says  : 

"  I  will  combine  all  ills,  all  wrongs  and  woes, 
All  miseries  and  crimes,  and  call  thee,- -Rum!" 

Are  you  a  member  of  the  Church  of  God,  then  let 
me  remind  you: 

1.  That  intemperance  is  a  sin  plainly  and  posi- 
tively condemned  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

2.  Total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks,  as 
a  beverage,  is  sustained  by  precept  and  example  in 
the  Bible. 

3.  There  is  no  way  to  have  drunkenness  cease, 
only  by  having  the  total  abstinence  principle  prevail. 

4.  The  Church  of  God  is  reformatory  in  its  char- 
acter.    It  should  be  the  salt  of  the  earth. 

5.  Self-denial  is  indispensably  requisite  in  order 
to  be  a  Christian. 

6.  All  objections  to  our  principles  are  but  excuses 
for  indulgence. 

Hold  on,  then,  friends  of  temperance,  in  this  holy 
cause.     Do  not  relax  your  efforts  to  save  the  drunk- 


Temperance.  257 

ard,  and  to  remove  the  curse  of  strong  drink  from 
the  communities  in  which  you  reside. 

"  Truth,  though  it  trouble  some  minds, 
Some  wicked  minds  that  are  both  dark  and  dangerous, 
Yet  it  preserves  itself;  comes  off  pure,  innocent; 
And,  like  the  sun,  though  never  so  beclouded, 
Will  yet  break  forth  in  unveiled  glory." 
22 


258  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

INCIDENTS  OF  ARMY  LIFE. 

WHILE  stationed  at  Franklin,  the  old  capital 
of  Tennessee,  we  were  apprised  of  a  cavalry 
force  in  the  vicinity,  which  meditated  an  attack 
on  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment.  We  guarded 
against  it  by  putting  the  regiment  under  greater 
surveillance,  and  posted  a  guard  around  the  town, 
early  on  Sabbath  morning.  The  slaves  also 
warned  us  that  there  was  going  to  be  an  attack  on 
us,  and  that  all  the  secessionists  had  received 
notice  to  retire  into  their  cellars  when  the  attack 
came  off.     The  cavalry  was  Wheeler's. 

I  posted  a  double  guard,  and  took  every  pre- 
caution, and  awaited  the  projected  attack,  in  read- 
iness to  give  them  a  warm  reception.  About  two 
o'clock  P.  M.  I  heard  the  report  of  a  rifle  on  our 
picket-lines,  and  soon  afterward  an  officer  ran  to 
head-quarters,  and  reported  that  one  of  my  soldiers 
was  fatally  wounded.  I  returned  with  him,  and 
found  a  crowd  around  their  fallen  comrade,  who 
was  bleeding  freely,  and  in  Irish  accents  bewailing 
his  bad  "luck." 

It  appeared  that  Patrick  had  bought  of  the 
sutler  a  can  of  cherries,  which  were  preserved  in 
spirits,  and  had  eaten  many  of  them,  and  drunk 
the  liquor.     He  was  badly  intoxicated,  and  showed 


Incidents  of  Army  Life.  259 

that  while  liquor  was  in,  wit  was  out,  and  ap- 
proached our  picket-line,  and  encountered  a  young 
American  on  the  line,  who  promptly  hailed  him : 
"Halt!  Who  comes  there?"  The  answer  was 
returned:  "You  spalpeen,  don't  you  halt  me!" 
The  "  Halt "  was  repeated  twice,  and  twice  disre- 
garded by  the  besotted  Irishman,  who  attempted 
to  cross  the  guard-line,  when  the  bayonet  was 
thrust  through  him,  and  he  lay  bleeding  of  a 
deadly  wound.  He  was  yelling,  "Holy  Mary! 
Mother  of  God!  Pray  for  me  now,  and  at  the 
hour  of  my  death.     Amen." 

"  Patrick,"  said  I,  "what  is  up  now?" 

"Och,  sir,  the  guard  there  bayoneted  me 
through  and  through." 

"  He  attempted  to  cross  the  line,"  said  the 
guard,  "disregarding  my  three  hails,  and  I  thrust 
him  on  duty,  sir." 

The  regimental  surgeons  were  examining  the 
wound,  and  I  beckoned  one  of  them  aside  and 
asked  as  to  the  probabilities,  and  was  told  that  the 
wound  was  fatal.  I  had  the  man  taken  to  the 
surgeon's  tent,  where  the  surgeons  completed  their 
attendance.  The  tent  was  crowded  with  soldiers. 
Patrick  looked  up  wistfully,  and  said:  "Colonel, 
please  have  all  the  men  go  out."  Looking  at 
them  he  said :  "If  ye  please,  comrades !"  The 
men  all  readily  retired,  and  I  closed  the  apron 
doors,  tied  them  securely,  and  took  a  camp-stool,  and 
sat  down  beside  the  man.  I  handed  him  an  orange 
which  I  happened  to  have  in  my  pocket.  "Thank 
you,  Colonel,  and  for  the  clearance  of  the  room. 


260  Granville  Moody. 

And  now  I  want  to  confess  to  you  that  I  am 
ashamed  of  myself.  It  was  the  whisky  which  I 
got  in  the  can  of  preserved  cherries  that  befooled 
me ;  and  forcing  my  way  headlong  through  the 
guards,  the  youngster  did  his  duty,  and  here  I  am 
thrust  dead,  before  I  got  a  shot  at  the  rebels  my- 
self; struck  down  by  one  of  my  own  men  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duty." 

"  Well,  well,"  I  said,  "  never  mind  that  now ;  you 
have  the  weigh  test  things  on  hand  now,  Patrick." 

"Yes,  Colonel.  There  is  another  thing  on  my 
mind — my  wife  and-  three  children  in  Springfield. 
You  know  that  we,  as  a  regiment,  have  not  been 
paid  off  for  three  or  four  months,  and  my  family 
is  in  need  of  my  pay,  and  I  want  to  get  you  to 
promise  me  that  you  will  see  to  it  that  my  poor 
wife  and  children  get  what  is  coming  to  me.  Send 
it  to  them,  with  my  love  to  each  and  all.  Bad 
luck  to  my  foolish  conduct !" 

"Well,"  said  I,  "I  will  see  to  it  that  your 
family  get  the  last  cent  of  your  wages." 

"That's  the  best  word  you've  said,  Colonel. 
Poor  creatures!  I  've  left  you  bad  enough  off;  to 
be  sure  I  have.  I  wish  I  could  leave  you  better 
off,  but  I  can  't." 

"  Well,  now,  Patrick,  you  have  higher  interests 
to  care  for;  your  soul's  welfare.  This  should 
now  be  your  supreme  concern." 

"  Well,  Colonel,  I  want  to  confess  all  my  sins 
to  you — from  the  first  to  the  last.  There  is  no 
priest  about  here  now ;  and  if  there  was,  I  would 
prefer  to  confess  to  you." 


Incidents  of  Army  Life.  261 

"  It  will  do  you  no  good  to  put  me  in  the 
priest's  place,  and  confess  to  me  and  seek  of  me 
for  absolution.  ( Who  can  forgive  sins  but  God 
only?'  against  whom  we  have  all  sinned.  Con- 
fess your  sins  to  God,  Patrick.  The  ministers  of 
Christ  can  charge  us  with  offending  God,  and  en- 
join true  repentance,  which  consists  in  having 
our  hearts  broken  for  and  from  sin  ;  and  enjoin  the 
duty  of  our  returning  to  God  with  confession  of 
our  sins,  deprecation  of  God's  displeasure,  supplica- 
tion for  his  mercy,  and  the  presentation  of  genuine 
repentance  which  is  unto  life,  not  to  be  repented 
of,  with  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  which 
you  approach  the  Father,  by  the  operation  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  secure  pardoning  mercy,  renew- 
ing grace,  adopting  love,  and  hope  of  heaven." 

"But,  Colonel,  how  will  I  know  whether  the 
Lord  accepts  me,  and  blesses  me  with  pardon  and 
hope  of  heaven,  as  you  say?" 

"  Every  one  that  believeth,"  I  said,  "  hath  the 
witness  in  himself.  The  Spirit  searcheth  all 
things,  even  the  depths  of  our  hearts,  and  the 
deep  things  of  God  ;  and  the  Spirit  of  God  bear- 
eth  witness  with  our  spirit  that  we  are  the  chil- 
dren of  God ;  and  if  children,  then  heirs  of  God, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Now,  Patrick,  let 
us  pray,  and  I  will  confess  with  you  and  for  you." 

As  I  proceeded,  he  humbly  joined  me  in  con- 
fession, deprecation,  supplication,  and  renunciation 
of  sin  and  Satan,  with  acceptance  of  Christ  as  our 
Prophet,  Priest,  and  King;  our  Shepherd,  Friend, 
and  Guide;  our  All  in  all.     We  consecrated  our- 


262  Granville  Moody. 

selves  to  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  and 
promised  to  serve  God,  wholly,  in  newness  of  life. 
While  thus  engaged,  I  said  :  "Lord,  here  is  poor 
Patrick,  in  sore  distress.  O  Lord,  if  it  be  possible 
and  proper,  we  ask  thee  to  spare  his  life  to 
Patrick  and  his  distant  wife,  and  his  three  depend- 
ent children !  O  Lord,  thy  power  is  equal  to 
thy  will ;  be  pleased  to  command  deliverance  for 
poor,  distressed  Patrick.  Exert  thy  power,  O  Lord, 
and  may  Patrick  be  snatched  from  this  impending 
calamity,  and  his  added  days  shall  show  forth  thy 
praise !" 

"Good  Lord,"  cried  out  Patrick,  "I'll  do  all 
that  the  colonel  says." 

I  rejoiced  in  spirit  to  hear  him  respond  so  fully 
as  he  did  to  my  prayer  for  himself,  and  I  was 
seized  with  the  spirit  of  responsive  praises  to  God 
for  the  pardon  of  poor  Patrick's  sins,  and  for 
averting  the  calamity  of  his  death ;  and  my 
petitions  were  succeeded  by  praises  to  a  sin- 
pardoning  God,  whose  power  was  equal  to  sparing 
poor  Patrick  from  death.  I  closed  with  the  apos- 
tolic benediction;  and  u Glory  to  the  Three  in  One 
and  One  in  Three ;  as  it  was,  is  now,  and  shall  be 
forever.     Amen." 

"Patrick,"  I  said,  "you  shall  not  die,  but  live 
and  praise  the  name  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty." 

"  Och,  Colonel !  Why  do  you  talk  so  to  a  man 
that  is  cut  through  and  through  with  a  bayonet 
wound?" 

"Well,  Patrick,  nothing  is  too  hard  for  God; 
and  he  has  heard  and  answered  our  united  prayers, 


Incidents  of  Army  Life.  263 

which  have  been  offered.  The  prayer  of  faith 
hath  prevailed.  You  shall  not  die,  but  live  and 
praise  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

"If  the  Lord  shall  spare  my  life,  my  life  shall 
be  given  to  him  for  his  mercy  ;    it  shall,  it  shall." 

He  fell  into  a  sweet  sleep,  which  lasted  several 
hours.  His  wounds  healed  up.  In  a  week  or  ten 
days  he  was  about  the  camp  on  two  crutches ;  and 
in  about  six  weeks  was  well  again,  and  returned 
to  duty.  Months  afterward  he  went  into  the  battle 
of  Stone  River ;  fought  like  a  veteran  hero ;  was 
taken  prisoner ;  exchanged  at  Libby  Prison  ;  went 
to  Springfield,  and  spent  a  time  with  his  family ; 
reunited  with  his  regiment,  and  went  South 
under  McCook,  Thomas,  and  Sherman,  to  glorious 
victories. 

Sometime  after  these  events  I  was  on  a  steam- 
boat on  the  Ohio,  above  Cincinnati,  and  after 
supper,  as  I  was  listlessly  sitting  in  front  of  my 
state-room,  who  should  come  up  to  me  but  Arch- 
bishop Purcell?  Politely  recognizing  me,  he  sat 
down,  and  said  familiarly:  "Colonel,  let  me  hear 
something  from  your  lips  of  your  army  life?"  I 
thought  awhile,  and  then  recited  the  foregoing 
narration.  It  was  supremely  interesting  to  the 
archbishop,  and  his  fine  countenance  was  all  astir ; 
and,  with  staring  eyes  and  listening  ears,  weeping 
or  smiling,  he  listened  with  wonder  and  grati- 
tude, surprise  and  praise,  interlocution  and  com- 
mendations interjected ;  and  at  last  wiped  the 
tears  from  his  face,  extended  me  his  hand,  and 
thanked  me  in  earnest  and  eloquent  terms  for  my 


264  Granville  Moody. 

kind  attentions  to  one  of  his  charge  in  such 
perilous  conditions.  "In  behalf  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  which  I  represent,  I  thank  you  for  your 
tender  sympathies  for  poor  Patrick  ;  and  trust  that 
the  event  may  prove  of  perpetual  benefit  to  his 
soul.  I  shall  long  cherish  the  memories  of  this 
evening's  interview."  At  about  nine  o'clock  we 
parted,  he  having  reached  his  destination,  and  I 
went  on  my  way. 

While  Andrew  Johnson  was  military  governor 
of  Tennessee,  and  I  was  the  colonel  of  an  Ohio 
regiment,  I  was  dubbed  by  the  boys  "  the  Fight- 
ing Parson."  We  entered  Nashville  just  at  the 
time  that  General  Buell  had  concluded  to  leave 
the  city.  On  hearing  this  startling  news,  I  hast- 
ened to  the  governor's  house,  and  found  him 
closeted  with  two  friends  in  serious  consultation. 
As  I  entered  the  others  withdrew.  To  my  in- 
quiry, "How  are  matters  going,  Governor?"  he 
replied:  "Going!  Moody,  we  are  sold.  Buell 
has  resolved  to  evacuate  the  city,  and  called  upon 
me  this  morning,  requesting  me  to  leave  also. 
He  has  given  me  three  hours  in  which  to  decide, 
and  will  be  here  in  an  hour  for  my  ultimatum. 
I  have  remonstrated  against  the  act.  I  still  be- 
lieve we  can  hold  the  city  against  the  enemy. 
What  do  you  think,  Moody  ?  Will  you  stay  with 
your  command?"  I  replied:  "I  will  stay  with 
you,  and  I  have  faith  in  God  that  he  will  deliver 
us  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy." 
Said  Governor  Johnson:  "I  am  glad  to  hear  you 
talk  of  faith   in  God.     Moody,  can  you  pray  for 


Incidents  of  Army  Life.  265 

us?"  I  advised  him  to  stand  by  the  city  to  the 
last,  and  to  telegraph  concerning  the  situation  to 
Washington.  He  said  the  wires  were  all  cut.  I 
then  suggested  that  he  send  by  courier  to  Louis- 
ville, and  thence  communicate  by  wire  with  Wash- 
ington ;  and  added,  that  the  wires  were  not  cut  to 
heaven.  Instinctively,  we  both  fell  upon  our 
knees  on  the  floor,  which  was  covered  with  mat- 
ting. Our  backs  were  opposite  each  other.  Then 
I  prayed:  "O  Lord,  Director  of  the  universe  and 
Governor  of  men,  I  pray  thee  look  upon  this  earthly 
governor  in  his  agony,  and  sustain  and  guide 
him.  ['Amen,'  said  Johnson.]  He  appeals  to 
thee  in  this  hour  for  comfort  and  direction — poor, 
weak  mortal  that  he  is,  a  creature  of  clay,  and 
uncertain  as  to  what  to  do.  I  pray  thee  that  if 
he  is  right,  that  thou  wouldst  make  him  as  firm 
as  adamant.  ['Amen!  amen!  amen!']  But  if 
he  is  wrong,  O  Lord,  make  him  feel  that  he  is 
wrong.  ['Amen.']  Leave  him  not  in  uncer- 
tainty." 

Then  I  poured  out  my  soul  in  earnest  suppli- 
cation for  the  Union,  the  governor,  and  all  who 
were  straitened  in  the  present  emergency.  I  was 
startled  by  very  unnatural  sounds,  like  scrap- 
ing upon  the  floor,  as  though  some  huge  mon- 
ster, with  claws,  was  approaching  me,  and  I  be- 
came powerfully  impressed  with  the  idea  that 
Satan  was  about  to  make  a  bold  effort  to  drive  me 
from  the  throne  of  grace.  I  prayed  the  more  fer- 
vently, and  was  presently  relieved  from  my  appre- 
hensions   by  Johnson,  who,  having  walked  across 

23  . 


266  Granville  Moody. 

the  room  upon  his  knees,  threw  his  arms  around 
my  neck,  ejaculating  most  vehemently,  "Amen! 
amen  !  God  hear  Colonel  Moody's  prayer!"  From 
this  point  the  prayer  continued  but  a  short  time, 
when  an  indescribable  sensation  of  peacefulness 
overwhelmed  us,  and  each  of  us  became  as  calm 
as  a  little  child,  while  it  seemed  as  though  the 
room  was  filled  with  a  supernatural  atmosphere 
settling  down  upon  us  as  a  soft  halo.  Being  fully 
conscious  of  an  answer,  I  ceased  praying.  We 
both  rose  from  the  floor,  wiping  away  the  tears, 
and  paced  the  floor  in  opposite  directions.  Pres- 
ently, meeting  about  the  center,  Johnson  said : 
"Colonel  Moody,  I  feel  better.  I  believe  Almighty 
God  sent  you  here,  and  Nashville  will  be  saved. 
That  prayer  has  been  answered.  I  feel  it.  I 
know  it.  My  resolution  is  taken.  All  the  powers 
of  earth  shall  not  shake  me  from  it.  Buell  can 
go.  No  more  dallying.  I  stay  right  here.  Let 
them  come  at  me."  Continuing  his  epigrammatic 
sentences  he  walked  to  the  window,  where  he 
caught  sight  of  the  Federal  flag  that  floated  over 
the  capital.  Excited  to  frenzy,  he  exclaimed : 
"Shall  I  order  that  glorious  old  flag  hauled  down 
to  give  place  to  that  of  rebels  ?  I  '11  be  d — d  if 
I  do  !"  I  cried  out :  "  O  Governor,  Governor,  do  n't 
indulge  in  such  language  under  these  solemn  cir- 
cumstances." To  this  rebuke  he  replied:  "I 
know  'tis  wrong,  'tis  wicked,  Moody;  but  if  I 
allow  that  old  flag  to  be  hauled  down,  God  Al- 
mighty will  damn  me  ;  this  nation  will  damn  me  ; 
I  shall  damn  myself."     A  short  time  after,  General 


Incidents  of  Army  Life.  267 

Buell  arrived.  I  withdrew ;  and,  as  history  reports, 
Nashville  was  not  surrendered. 

At  Stone  River,  during  the  days  when  my 
regiment  was  standing  in  double  columns  massed 
on  the  two  center  companies  on  the  reserve  line, 
waiting  orders,  a  staff  officer  from  General  George 
H.  Thomas's  head-quarters  in  the  field  rode  up  to 
me  and  said,  hurriedly:  "Colonel,  I  have  orders 
for  you.  The  regiment  on  your  front  has  been 
nearly  annihilated.  Hold  your  men  in  hand  while 
I  go  on  the  line  and  clear  off  what  is  left ;  and 
you  watch  me,  and  when  ready,  I  will  wave  my 
sword  three  times  for  you ;  and  do  you  come  on, 
advancing  on  the  line  of  battle  firing,"  and  off  he 
went.  I  turned  to  my  regiment,  and  said:  "Com- 
rades, we  go  into  action  in  a  few  minutes.  Off 
caps,  and  say  your  prayers  I" 

Whilst  we  were  all  praying,  I  watched  as  well 
as  prayed.  Presently  the  sign  was  given,  and  I 
interrupted  their  devotions  with,  "Battalion,  atten- 
tion !  Order  arms  !  shoulder  arms  !  right  shoulder 
shift!  forward,  quick  time,  march!"  Approach- 
ing the  battle-line,  I  gave  the  order:  "Battalion, 
by  right  and  left  companies,  outward  face ;  by 
right  and  left  half  wheel,  forward  into  line,  ad- 
vance firing ;  march  !"  And  then  I  added  :  "  Now, 
men,  resume  your  praying;  fight  for  your  God, 
your  country,  and  your  kind ;  aim  low  and  give 
them  'Hail  Columbia;'"  but,  unfortunately  for 
Columbia,  the  two  center  companies  opened  fire 
just  as  I  had  uttered  the  word  "hail,"  and  the 
simultaneous    fire    of    one    hundred    and    twenty 


268  Granville  Moody. 

rifles  drowned  the  word  "Columbia,"  and  all  the 
regiment  heard  was  "give  them  hail."  I  suppose 
that  it  fell  on  their  ears  with  a  shortened  accent. 
The  boys,  after  the  battle,  stuck  to  it  that  I 
shouted,  "Give  them  hell!" 

On  Thursday  night,  at  ten  o'clock,  myself 
and  regiment  were  ordered  out  about  two  miles 
south  or  south-west  of  Murfreesboro.  We  made 
the  march  through  deep  darkness,  and  came  to  a 
vacant  house  of  hewed  cedar  logs,  and  in  the  back 
yard  were  fifteen  or  twenty  small  cabins.  I  re- 
solved to  shelter  my  men  in  the  mansion-house 
and  in  these  Negro  cabins.  We  deployed  compa- 
nies A  and  B  on  the  skirmish-lines.  Then  all  was 
quiet,  and  I  went  up  the  spacious  stairway,  and 
into  the  front  room,  and  up  to  the  window,  and 
looked  out  into  the  dense  darkness.  A  stroke  of 
lightning  did  its  revealing  work,  and  another,  and 
another  showed  me  the  premises,  with  the  ex- 
tensive flower-garden  in  front,  with,  say,  twenty 
corpses  of  soldiers  strewn  here  and  there.  They 
were  our  men,  shot  down  on  picket  duty.  Pres- 
ently a  single  shot  from  our  picket-line  admon- 
ished me  of  danger  near,  and  in  a  few  minutes  a 
squad  of  men,  bearing  a  wounded  man,  came  to 
the  house  and  carried  him  to  the  rear,  and  sent 
for  me. 

I  found  a  fine-looking  officer  of  the  rebel  army, 
who  had  been  reconnoitering  our  line,  and  one  of 
our  picket- guard  fired  on  him  in  the  darkness, 
and  the  ball  went  through  his  loins,  and  he  cried 
out  for  help.     Two  of  our  soldiers  went  out,  and 


Incidents  of  Army  Life.  269 

found  the  wounded  and  helpless  man,  and  brought 
him  into  our  camp.  I  sent  for  an  ambulance 
to  take  him  to  the  hospital.  Meanwhile,  I  talked 
with  him.  He  was  a  Southerner,  intelligent,  but 
sadly  deficient  in  right  views  of  the  North,  and 
said  if  things  were  as  I  told  him,  he  had  thrown  his 
life  away.  I  prayed  with  and  for  him,  for  which 
he  was  very  thankful.  He  was  sent  to  the  hospital, 
and    died  in  about  six  hours  after  reaching  there. 

The  morning  dawned,  and  about  ten  o'clock  we 
departed.  As  I  lingered  awhile,  I  went  up-stairs 
and  beheld  where  a  cannon-ball  had  passed 
through  one  of  the  cedar-logs  of  the  second  story, 
and  left  the  whole  in  fine  splinters,  very  fine  and 
dry.  One  of  our  soldiers  in  passing  along  in  my 
presence,  took  his  pipe  from  his  mouth,  and  set 
the  splinters  on  fire,  and  said :  "  That  will  finish 
it,  Colonel  ;  come  let  us  go."  I  set  to  work  and 
scattered  the  kindled  and  kindling  splinters,  and 
fought  out  the  vigorous  fire,  and  saved  that  build- 
ing from  speedy  consumption  by  the  devouring 
flame,  and  felt  I  had  saved  a  spacious,  costly  house 
for  some  rebel. 

The  following  prayer  was  delivered  by  the  author 
at  Spring  Grove,  on  the  occasion  of  decorating  the 
graves  of  soldiers  on  Memorial-day,  May  30,  1880: 

Almighty  God  !  We  venerate  and  adore  thee  as 
the  Creator  of  innumerable  worlds,  the  Father  of 
angels  and  of  men.  Thou  art  the  supreme  and  uni- 
versal Sovereign  ;  our  best,  our  kindest  Friend,  and  the 
wise  and  just  disposer  of  our  temporal  and  eternal 
interests.     The  principles  of  equity,  fidelity,  gratitude, 


270  Granville  Moody. 

and  prudence  alike  demand  of  us  an  adoring  and  obe- 
dient acknowledgment  of  thy  universal  dominion.  O, 
thou  blessed  and  only  Potentate,  King  of  kings,  Lord 
of  lords,  Ruler  of  rulers,  the  earth,  thy  footstool,  is 
full  of  thy  works,  and  the  heavens  are  resplendent 
with  thy  glory.  In  every  thing  about  us  we  behold  the 
emanations  of  thy  love.  In  the  living  green  of  the 
fields  and  the  flower-embroidered  expanse,  in  the  stars 
of  the  firmament,  in  the  balmy  breath  of  spring,  and 
the  scowling  storm-cloud,  we  trace  the  inscriptions  of 
thy  matchless  beauty,  consummate  wisdom,  and  al- 
mighty power.  Thy  way  is  in  the  whirlwind  and  the 
storm,  and  the  clouds  are  the  dust  of  thy  feet.  There 
is  no  spot  in  the  illimitable  universe  unvisited  by  thy 
care,  and  not  a  sparrow  falleth  on  the  ground,  nor  an 
empire  riseth  into  existence  and  power,  without  thine 
everlasting  providence. 

Thou  art  the  Governor  among  the  nations,  and 
we  this  day  bless  thee  that  the  lines  have  fallen  to  us 
in  pleasant  places;  yea,  we  have  a  goodly  heritage. 
Indeed,  thou  hast  not  dealt  so  wTith  any  people.  It 
is  a  goodly  land  which  the  Lord  our  God  has  given 
to  us ;  a  land  whose  broad  domain  is  washed  by  the 
waters  of  earth's  greatest  oceans;  a  land  whose 
mountain  ranges,  fertile  valleys,  majestic  rivers,  salu- 
brious climate,  and  mineral  resources  are  beyond  com- 
parison ;  a  land  endeared  by  the  patriot's  zeal,  baptized 
with  his  blood,  consecrated  by  the  graves  and  dust  of 
our  forefathers  ;  a  land  the  Lord  careth  for,  and  upon 
which  his  eye  has  been  from  the  beginning  even  to  the 
end  of  the  year ;  a  land  where,  amid  much  darkness,  a 
brighter  light  of  evangelical  truth  is  shining ;  where 
in  the  midst  of  awful  vice,  there  is  a  higher  degree  of 
public  and  private  virtue  than  in  any  other;  a  land 
whose  civil,  political,  and  religious  institutions  are  at 


Incidents  of  Army  Life.  271 

once  the  light  and  admiration  of  the  civilized  world, 
and  to  imitate  which  other  nations  have  made  convul- 
sive efforts ;  a  land  where  justice  is  a  terror  to  evil- 
doers, and  equal  law  spreads  its  protection  over  the  roof 
of  the  cabin  as  well  as  over  the  prouder  dome  ;  a  land 
where  conscience  is  freed  from  fetters,  and  the  various 
tribes  of  the  one  Israel  of  God  keep  their  solemn  as- 
semblies. The  Sabbaths  of  the  land  are  marked  by 
worshiping  assemblies,  and  the  Churches  have  rest, 
and,  walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and  in  the  com- 
fort of  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  multiplied. 

To-day  we  especially  bless  thee  that  when  bold, 
bad  men  sought  the  overthrow  of  our  Government, 
and  the  dismemberment  of  our  nationality,  and  inau- 
gurated open,  flagrant  war  to  compel  the  people  to  sub- 
mit to  this  great  wrong,  that  secessionists  might 
erect  on  more  than  half  the  public  domain  an  em- 
pire whose  corner-stone  should  be  slavery,  whose 
motto  was  that  God  "  hath  not  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men,  and  that  they  are  not  created  free  and 
equal ;  and  are  not  by  him  endowed  with  inalienable 
rights  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  and 
that  "  black  men  have  no  rights  which  white  men  are 
bound  to  respect ;"  and  when  alliance  was  made  with 
foreign  hostile  powers  for  aid  and  comfort  in  this 
wicked  project,  and  they  began  and  prosecuted  their 
cruel  war  for  such  unholy  ends,  thou  didst  frown  on 
them  in  thy  righteous  providence,  so  that  when  this 
enemy  came  in  as  a  flood,  thou  didst  lift  up  a  stand- 
ard against  him ;  and  along  our  serried  lines  gleamed 
our  country's  starry  flag ;  and  beneath  its  rainbow 
stripes  thou  didst  marshal  Freedom's  warriors  true, 
whose  swords  and  bayonets  were  an  iron  barrier 
strong  between  the  lawless  and  the  weak. 

We  bless  thee,  that  at  the  call  of  their  country  and 


272  Granville  Moody. 

their  God,  they  rushed  to  the  gory  battle-field,  courted 
the  posts  of  danger,  and  shook  their  martial  st^el  in 
the  grim  face  of  Death,  and  laid  down  their  lives  that 
the  Nation  might  live.  We  bless  thee,  that  thou  didst 
set  the  star  of  liberty  on  the  brow  of  our  firmament, 
that  glory-beaming  star,  whose  holy  light  was  never 
dimmed  by  overflowing  clouds;  and  when,  as  a 
Nation,  we  were  ready  to  do  justice  as  well  as  de- 
mand it,  thou  didst  give  us  decisive  victories  and  Na- 
tional peace. 

And  now  we  have  met  to  honor  the  memory  and 
adorn  the  graves  of  the  gallant  dead,  whom  thou  didst 
use  as  instruments  in  the  accomplishment  of  these 
great  and  glorious  results.  We  bless  thee,  that  they 
gained  the  martyr  wreath  in  freedom's  holy  cause,  and 
gained  a  fame  that  shall  be  enduring  as  thine  own 
eternal  laws  ;  and  their  countrymen,  by  thy  good  prov- 
idence, come  with  tender  love  to  deck  their  honored 
bed ;  to  scatter  immortelles  o'er  their  graves,  our 
banner  o'er  their  turf  to  spread,  and  on  their  monu- 
ment to  shower  the  pearly  tears  of  patriotism  and 
gratitude. 

Let  thy  blessing  be  upon  the  parents,  wives,  and 
children  of  our  honored  dead.  May  the  children  of 
the  soldiers  ever  find  in  the  Government  parental 
care,  and  in  their  country  a  glorious  heritage,  and 
prove  themselves  worthy  descendants  of  the  men, 
who,  under  God,  saved  the  great  Republic  !  Let  the 
freedom  of  this  land  of  freemen  last  "while  earth 
bears  a  flower,  or  ocean  rolls  a  wave."  May  its  char- 
acter be  spotless  as  the  sun  ;  may  servile .  or  hostile 
feet  never  press  our  soil ;  may  wasting  and  destruc- 
tion be  averted  from  our  borders ;  may  our  gates  be 
salvation,  and  our  walls  praise ;  may  our  fields  yield 
their  increase! 


Incidents  of  Army  Life.  273 

"No  more  may  hosts,  encountering  hosts, 
Their  numerous  dead  deplore, 
But  lay  the  martial  trumpet  by, 
And  study  war  no  more!" 

And  may  God,  even  our  God,  bless  us,  and  be  a  wall 
of  fire  round  about  us  by  thy  providential  protection, 
and  the  glory  in  our  midst  by  the  gospel  of  thy  Son ! 
We  ask  in  Christ's  name.     Amen. 

During  the  Centennial  year  of  our  independ- 
ence, the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  met  at 
Arlington,  Va.,  on  Memorial-day,  May  30th.  There 
were  present  both  Houses  of  Congress,  the  clergy 
of  Washington  and  vicinity,  several  of  the  civic 
societies  of  the  Capital,  and  the  general  public. 
The  oration  of  the  day  was  delivered  by  the  Hon. 
Stewart  L.  Woodford,  of  New  York,  and  a  poem 
read  by  B.  F.  Taylor,  of  Illinois.  The  duty  of 
offering  prayer  was  assigned  to  myself.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  prayer  : 

O  Thou  who  art,  and  wast,  and  evermore  shalt  be, 
the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe,  the  Creator  of  in- 
numerable worlds,  the  Father  of  angels  and  of  men, 
and  the  Arbiter  of  the  court  of  ultimate  resort,  thy 
glory  no  eye  can  bear,  no  thought  can  reach;  thy 
power  rideth  on  the  whirlwind  ;  thy  wisdom  searcheth 
all  things,  even  the  hidden  things  of  darkness ;  thy 
goodness  poureth  on  our  hearts  their  gladness.  To 
know  and  acknowledge  thee  is  life  for  evermore ;  to 
adore  thee  is  solemn  joy ;  to  trust  thee  perfect  free- 
dom ;  to  have  thee  as  our  portion  is  the  all-compre- 
hending good. 

We  rejoice  in  thee  as  the  God  who  hath  made  of 
one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  the  face  of 
the  whole  earth,  and  hath  appointed  them  their  habita- 


274  Granville  Moody. 

tion  and  the  bounds  thereof,  that  they  might  seek,  if 
haply  they  may  find  thee,  who  art  not  far  from  every 
one  of  us,  seeing  that  in  thee  we  live  and  move  and 
have  our  being,  and  are  all  thine  offspring. 

We  desire,  above  all  things,  a  nearer  and  purer 
communion  with  thyself.  We  would  come  into  thy 
presence  in  these  religious  services  with  humility, 
contrition,  and  gratitude.  It  becomes  us,  creatures  of 
a  day  and  crushed  before  the  moth,  to  appear  before 
thee  clothed  with  humility  as  with  a  garment,  and  to 
imitate  the  angels  of  thy  court,  who  veil  their  faces 
with  their  wings  in  thy  worship.  It  becomes  us  to  be 
contrite  in  heart  as  thy  sinful  creatures,  and,  deprecat- 
ing thy  displeasure,  to  lay  a  broken  heart  on  that 
diamond  altar  dimmed  with  the  crimson  blood  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  delivered  to  the  cross  and 
to  its  death  for  our  offenses,  and  rose  again  for  our 
justification,  and  lives  above  to  intercede  for  us  men, 
and  for  our  salvation.  It  becomes  us  also  to  cherish 
sentiments  of  profound  gratitude  for  thy  kindly  deal- 
ings with  us,  thy  dependent  creatures.  In  a  world  of 
changes  and  chances,  accidents,  disease,  and  death, 
thou  hast  wonderfully  preserved  and  indulged  us. 
Thy  providence  has  been  our  safeguard,  support,  and 
consolation.  Thou  hast  redeemed  our  lives  from  de- 
struction, and  crowned  us  with  loving-kindness  and 
tender  mercies.  Especially  do  we  as  a  Christian  nation 
bless  thee  for  the  inestimable  gift  of  Jesus  Christ,  thine 
only  begotten  and  mysteriously  incarnated  Son,  whom 
thou  hast  sent  into  the  world  to  teach  us  heavenly 
truths;  to  set  us  an  example  of  perfect  holiness;  to 
offer  himself  through  the  eternal  Spirit  "  a  propitia- 
tion for  the  sins  of  the  world,"  and  that,  as  a  surety 
and  mediator  of  the  new  covenant  of  grace,  wields  all 
power  in  heaven  and  on  earth   for  the  extirpation  of 


Incidents  of  Army  Life.  275 

sin  from  our  world,  and  for  the  restoration  to  thy 
favor  and  image  the  millions  of  our  race  who  have 
fallen  away  from  their  allegiance  to  thy  throne  by  an 
unprovoked  rebellion  against  thy  rightful  authority 
and  gracious  reign.  For  the  success  of  his  undertak- 
ing shall  ceaseless  prayer  be  made,  in  which  we  gladly 
unite  to-day;  and  as  thy  people,  we  are  willing  to  take 
our  part  of  the  effort,  the  toils,  and  the  sacrifice  to- 
gether with  him. 

Especially  do  we  bless  thee,  in  this  Centennial  year 
of  our  history,  as  a  people  which  stands  a  wonder  and 
a  marvel  to  the  wide,  wide  world.  We  rejoice  that 
thou  didst  form  and  preserve  this  Occidental  hemis- 
phere to  furnish  the  most  magnificent  home  for  man 
to  be  found  on  the  footstool  of  God.  We  praise  thee 
that  thou  didst  sift  the  Old  World  to  get  the  precious 
seed  with  which  to  sow  this  fruitful  soil.  Thou  didst 
pilot  them  through  the  rolling  deep,  and  didst  receive 
their  humble  worship  at  Plymouth  Rock,  and  didst 
aid  them  in  accomplishing  their  high  and  holy  avowal 
to  "  found  a  Church  without  a  bishop,  and  a  State 
without  a  king." 

And  when  they  were  a  small  people  and  few,  even 
a  few,  thou  didst  suffer  no  man  to  wrong  them.  Yea, 
thou  didst  rebuke  kings  for  their  sakes,  saying,  Touch 
not  mine  anointed,  and  do  my  prophets  no  harm  ;  and 
despite  the  satellites  of  altar  and  throne,  they  grew  to 
greatness,  and  one  hundred  years  ago  they  made  dec- 
laration of  their  rights,  their  purposed  independence 
of  every  power  but  thine ;  and  "  pledged  to  each  other 
their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor,"  to 
achieve  and  maintain  their  supreme  nationality,  in 
firm  and  avowed  dependence  upon  thine  aid.  In  those 
days  that  tried  men's  souls,  thou  didst  raise  them 
up  a  savior,  and  a  great  one,  in  thy  servant  Washing- 


276  Granville  Moody. 

ton,  and  didst  set  this  day-star  of  freedom  on  the  brow 
of  the  firmament,  whilst  our  patriot  sires  prosecuted 
their  enterprise  through  the  seven  years'  war,  and 
bore  our  banner  of  beauty  and  glory,  storm-rifted  and 
bullet-torn,  along  and  aloft,  till  it  floated  in  triumph 
from  the  dome  of  the  Temple  of  Freedom,  the  ori- 
flamme  and  beacon  of  hope  to  the  oppressed  of  the 
world. 

We  bless  thee,  also,  that  when  the  thirteen  colonies 
found  a  mere  confederacy,  held  together  by  the  out- 
ward pressure  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  utterly  unequal 
to  the  task  of  governing  this  vast  domain  in  periods 
of  peace,  thou  didst  inspire  and  guide  them  into  the 
act  by  which  we  became  a  nation  amongst  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  vital  in  every  part,  and  that  can  only  by 
annihilation  die.  We  are  indissolubly  one  in  the  right 
of  eminent  domain,  a  government  of  and  for  and  by 
the  people — one  by  the  necessities  of  our  condition, 
which  necessities  are  but  increased  by  our  magnificent 
growth ;  and  we  rejoice  together  to-day  that  thou 
didst  give  wisdom  to  the  Convention  of  Delegates 
from  every  State  to  form  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  the  adoption  of  which  by  the  people  of  this 
ocean-bound  Republic,  constituted  us  a  Nation  amongst 
the  nations  ot  the  earth,  as,  according  to  its  utterances, 
it  declared  that  "We,  the  people  of  these  United 
States,  in  order  to  establish  justice,  provide  for  the 
common  defense,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  and  se- 
cure the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  pos- 
terity, do  make  and  ordain  this  Constitution  to  be  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land." 

We  do  render  thee  thanks,  O  thou  Governor 
amongst  the  nations,  for  thy  wisdom,  invoked  by  the 
authorized  prayer  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution, 
and  which  still  shines  in  every  line  of  that  palladium 


Incidents  on  Army  Life.  277 

of  our  National  rights,  the  proud  central  pillar  of  the 
temple  of  freedom. 

The  vine  which  thou  didst  bring  out  of  the  Egypt 
of  the  political  dissonance  of  Europe,  thou  didst  plant 
in  this  land.  Thou  preparedst  room  before  it,  and 
didst  cause  it  to  take  deep  root,  and  it  filled  the  land ; 
the  hills  were  covered  with  the  shadow  of  it,  and  the 
boughs  thereof  were  like  the  goodly  cedars ;  it  sent 
forth  its  branches  to  the  Mississippi,  and  its  boughs  to 
the  Pacific  and  to  Alaska,  and  when  the  boar  out  of  the 
wood  would  have  wasted  it,  whetting  his  tusks  upon 
it,  they  were  broken ;  and  when  the  wild  beast  of  the 
field  would  devour  it,  he  was  slain  ;  and  the  vine  and 
branch  which  thou  hast  planted  for  thyself,  thou  hast 
protected  by  Washington,  Jackson,  Lincoln,  Thomas, 
and  Grant,  and  their  colleagues,  whom  thou  didst  gird 
and  guard,  with  the  men  whom  thou  madest  strong 
for  thyself,  and  for  our  protection  as  a  Nation,  whose 
God  is  the  Lord. 

In  thy  all-comprehending  providence,  thou  hast 
greatly  enlarged  our  borders  by  transferring  to  our 
sovereignty  Florida,  Louisiana,  Texas,  New  Mexico, 
California,  and  Alaska ;  so  that  our  Nation  extends 

"  From  where  our  green  mountain-tops  blend  with  the  sky, 
And  the  giant  St.  Lawrence  is  rolled, 
To  the  waves  where  the  balmy  Hesperides  lie, 
Like  a  dream  of  some  prophet  of  old." 

To-day  we  are  specially  called  upon  to  bless  thee 
that  our  land  has  been  delivered  from  the  cruel  power 
of  the  oppressor,  who  inaugurated  open,  flagrant, 
deadly  war  to  compel  our  Government  to  submit  to 
its  own  dissolution  and  destruction,  to  accommodate 
those  who  hold  that  all  men  are  not  created  equal, 
and  deny  that  thou,  the  Creator,  hast  endowed  all 
men   with  the  inalienable  rights   of   life,  liberty,  and 


278  Granville  Moody. 

the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  and  that  governments  among 
men  are  not  formed  to  preserve  those  sacred  rights, 
but  rather  echo  the  decision  of  the  ermine,  that  men 
whose  only  crime  is  that  God  jetted  their  brows,  "have 
no  rights  that  white  men  are  bound  to  respect.' ' 

We  rejoice  that  the  dissemination  of  thy  Holy 
Word  had  so  leavened  the  minds  of  statesmen  and  the 
masses,  that  when  the  rugged  issue  came,  "  slavery  or 
liberty,"  our  thousands  and  millions  rallied  around 
the  banner  of  freedom,  and  rushed  to  gory  battle- 
fields to  meet  the  frenzied  foe,  courted  the  posts  of 
danger,  and  shook  their  martial  steel  in  the  grim  face 
of  death.  And  now,  that  our  war-drums  throb  no 
longer,  and  our  battle-flags  are  furled,  we  gather  by 
thousands  to  honor  the  graves  of  the  brave  defenders 
and  deliverers  of  the  Republic,  men  who  breasted  the 
iron  storm  of  war,  and  advanced  the  line  of  battle 
under  the  darkening  wings  of  the  war-cloud, 

"Beneath  whose  gloom  of  dusky  smoke, 
Our  cannon  flamed  and  bomb-shells  broke  ; 
And  the  sharp,  rattling  volleys  rang, 
And  shrapnell  screamed  and  bullets  sang, 
While  fierce-eyed  men,  with  panting  breath, 
Toiled  onward  at  the  work  of  death," 

that  our  nationality  might  be  preserved  and  liberty 
proclaimed  throughout  the  land.  With  this  fiery  gos- 
pel they  executed  thy  holy  commands  "to  loose  the 
bands  of  wickedness ;  to  undo  the  heavy  burdens ;  to 
let  the  oppressed  go  free,  and  break  every  yoke ;"  and 
thou  didst  join  the  might  with  the  right,  and  history  re- 
peated itself,  because  thou  art  the  same  God  on  the 
Mississippi  as  thou  wast  in  Egypt.  Wonderfully  thou 
hast  freed  this  Nation  from  the  ever-beginning  and 
never-ending  curse  of  African  slavery,  fastened  upon 


Incidents  of  Army  Life.  279 

our  fathers  and  our  country  by  old  England's  cursed 
lust  for  gold. 

To-day  we  stand  amid  the  sad  memorials  of  war 
and  death  in  this  silent  city  of  the  heroic  dead,  who 
gave  up  their  lives  on  numerous  battle-fields,  that  our 
country  might  live,  and  its  citizens  be  free.  To-day 
we  have  met  to  scatter  immortelles,  cypress,  and  lau- 
rels on  their  honored  remains,  and  to  keep  their 
memories  green,  while  we  lay  the  first  floral  offerings 
of  spring  on  their  lonely  graves. 

"  By  fairy  hands  their  knell  is  rung, 
By  forms  unseen  their  dirge  is  sung. 
Here  Honor  comes,  a  pilgrim  gray, 
To  bless  the  turf  that  wraps  their  clay; 
And  Freedom  doth  awhile  repair, 
To  dwell  a  weeping  hermit  there." 

We  rejoice  that  our  Republic  is  not  unmindful  of 
the  services  of  her  soldiers,  the  unreturning  brave,  and 
the  great  unknown,  whose  graves  we  adorn  this  day, 
and  whose  monuments  rescue  them  from  oblivion, 
whilst 

"On  fame's  eternal  camping  ground 
Their  silent  tents  are  spread, 
And  glory  guards  with  solemn  round 
The  bivouac  of  the  dead." 

Command  thy  blessings,  both  in  Providence  and  grace, 
on  the  widows  and  children  of  the  brave  defenders 
who  sleep  around  us  in  this,  and  in  all  the  cemeteries  of 
all  our  battle-fields ;  and  may  the  blood  of  these  mar- 
tyrs be  the  seed  of  the  Union !  Let  thy  care  be  ex- 
tended to  the  freedmen  of  our  land ;  and  though  their 
blood  still  flows  on  the  soil  of  freedom,  may  the  cries 
of  the  spoiled  come  before  thee,  and  their  mournful 
prayer  be  heard ! 

And  now,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  ask  thy  bless- 
ing on  the  entire  country  and  all  her  citizens,  however 


280  Granville  Moody. 

they  may  have  been  dissociated  by  the  recent  calami- 
ties of  war.  Give  to  them  who  may  still  be  inimical 
a  spirit  of  reconciliation,  and  may  all  sectional  feel- 
ings be  merged  in  the  common  glory  of  a  restored 
brotherhood ;  and  may  the  bereaved  ones  be  graciously 
cared  for  by  thy  gracious  providence !  With  thy 
servant,  David,  we  pray  :  "Rid  us,  and  deliver  us  from 
the  hand  of  strange  children,  whose  mouth  speaketh 
vanity,  and  their  right  hand  is  a  right  hand  of  false- 
hood ;  that  our  sons  may  be  as  olive-plants  grown  up 
in  their  youth ;  that  our  daughters  may  be  as  corner- 
stones, polished  after  the  similitude  of  a  palace ;  that 
our  garners  may  be  full,  affording  all  manner  of  store ; 
that  our  sheep  may  bring  forth  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  in  our  streets  ;  that  our  oxen  may  be  strong 
to  labor ;  that  there  be  no  breaking  in,  nor  going  out ; 
that  there  be  no  complaining  in  our  streets.  Happy 
is  that  people  that  is  in  such  a  case ;  yea,  happy  is  that 
people  whose  God  is  the  L,ord."  And  all  we  ask,  for 
Christ's  sake  !     Amen ! 


Advocacy  of  Reform  and  Liberty.     281 


CHAPTER  XX. 

ADVOCACY  OF  REFORM  AND  LIBERTY. 

THE  extracts  given  in  this  chapter  are  clipped 
from  papers  issued  when  these  matters  were 
current.  They  serve  to  show  the  part  which  the 
author  took  on  these  questions  at  that  time. 

From  a  Springfield  Paper,  1851. 
THE    KOSSUTH     MEETING. 

The  late  gathering  of  the  friends  of  freedom  and 
humanity,  at  the  City  Hall,  is  generally  conceded  to 
have  been  worthy  of  the  occasion.  The  subject  is  one 
for  grave  consideration.  Perhaps  no  period  will  be  so 
favorable  for  settling  this  question  of  intervention  or 
non-intervention.  The  genius  and  policy  of  our  insti- 
tutions have  been  to  form  no  foreign  alliances.  An 
asylum  was  offered  to  all ;  to  this  extent,  no  more. 
The  nice  tact  of  the  Magyar  soon  perceived  this,  and 
he  honestly  declared  to  a  friend  of  ours  in  Columbus, 
he  expected  no  governmental  aid ;  material  aid  was  all 
he  asked.  Two  most  important  avenues  remain  open, — 
the  influence  of  public  opinion,  backed  by  material 
aid.  Not  a  despot  in  Europe  but  daily  feels  the  im- 
mense power  wielded  by  the  former.  The  voice  of 
the  press  is  shackled,  public  discussion  suppressed ;  still 
"  there  is  a  power  behind  the  throne  greater  than 
the  throne  itself."  It  is  heard  in  a  thousand  myste- 
rious mutterings ;  it  is  omnipotent  and  omnipresent. 
Every   step    that   Louis    Napoleon    takes  leaves   the 

24 


282  Granville  Moody. 

impress  of  a  dagger.  The  imperial  edicts  of  Austria 
and  Prussia  are  but  the  countersign  of  their  manifest 
destiny.  The  man  who  doubts  that  the  free  public 
expression  of  England  and  America  on  a  question 
of  international  policy  will  be  heard  and  felt,  can 
hardly  be  of  sane  mind.  The  two  powers  that  control 
the  commerce  of  the  world  will  be  felt  in  any  way 
they  choose  to  give  utterance  to  their  mandates. 

These  expressions  of  the  public  voice  are,  there- 
fore, eminently  desirable.  They  are  sufficiently  posted 
in  Europe  to  know  that  this  voice  can  readily  reach 
the  national  councils,  and  assume  a  governmental  tone. 
The  free-spoken  men  that  gave  utterance  to  public 
opinion  in  the  City  Hall  are  the  same  power  precisely 
that  liberated  the  noble  Magyar,  and  yet  speed  him  on 
his  way  rejoicing.  The  address  of  Rev.  G.  Moody  is 
everywhere  spoken  of  as  a  most  able  and  eloquent 
expositon  and  vindication  of  the  claims  of  Hungary. 
There  was  a  grand  turn-out  of  ladies  and  gentlemen. 
Rev.  Joshua  Boucher  was  called  to  the  chair.  After  ap- 
propriate prayer,  the  chairman  called  upon  Rev.  Gran- 
ville Moody  to  address  the  meeting.  He  responded 
to  the  call  by  a  speech  of  about  three  hours  in  length, 
upon  "Hungarian  History,  Kossuth,  Liberty,  Popery, 
and  Despotism."  His  remarks  were  in  the  main  well 
received,  as  was  evinced  by  the  frequent  plaudits  with 
which  he  was  interrupted.  He  made  some  happy 
hits,  and  said  many  good  things;  but  we  have  not 
space  to  give  even  a  sketch  of  what  he  said. 

At  the  close  of  the  speech  the  meeting  resolved 
itself  into  a  "Hungarian  Aid  Association  of  Clark 
County."  A  committee  of  six  was  appointed  to  sell 
certificates  of  loans  to  the  Hungarian  Fund.  In  the 
short  time  the  committee  was  about  its  work  the  sub- 
scriptions swelled  up  into  hundreds  of  dollars.     The 


Advocacy  of  Reform  and  Liberty.    283 

work  is  still  in  progress,  and  those  having  the  matter 
in  charge  are  determined  that  this  warm-hearted  city, 
and  the  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  citizens  of  Clark, 
shall  not  be  behind  their  neighbors  in  furnishing  that 
aid  which  is  to  be  used  in  regaining  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence in  down-trodden  Hungary. 

From  a  Dayton  Newspaper,  1853. 
ANTI-NEBRASKA  MEETING  IN  DAYTON. 

A  large  number  of  the  citizens  of  Dayton,  who 
are  opposed  to  the  Nebraska  fraud,  assembled,  last 
Tuesday  evening,  in  Beckel's  Hall.  Joseph  Barrett  pre- 
sided. Messrs.  Craighead,  Parrott,  and  Moody  deliv- 
ered spirited  addresses.  The  address  of  Rev.  Granville 
Moody  was  very  interesting  and  stirring.  We  were 
happy  to  hear  from  Mr.  Moody  so  plain  and  forcible  a 
condemnation  of  slavery  and  its  constant  aggressions, 
aided  by  the  General  Government,  upon  the  domain 
of  freedom.  The  watchmen  of  Zion  can  not  hold 
their  peace  without  criminal  neglect  of  the  interests, 
temporal,  spiritual,  and  eternal,  of  millions  of  souls. 
L,et  them  speak  out ! 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  as  ex- 
pressive of  the  sense  of  the  meeting : 

"Resolved,  That  it  was  the  original  policy  of  the 
Government  to  provide  against  the  extension  of 
slavery,  as  evinced  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787 ;  and  that 
the  Nebraska  Bill,  now  before  Congress,  covering  a 
design  to  admit  slavery  into  the  heart  of  the  con- 
tinent, overturns  the  principles  of  the  past,  betrays 
the  interests  of  future  generations,  and  involves  deep 
national  disgrace. 

"Resolved,  That  this  bill,  as  it  excludes  from  the 
polls  and  from  office  all  inhabitants  not  citizens  of  the 
United  States;  as  it  opens  the  door  for  the  extension 


284  Granville  Moody. 

of  slavery  over  an  immense  territory,  which  should 
be  sacred  to  freedom  and  to  free  labor;  as  it  violates 
the  National  faith  pledged  to  the  Indians  in  various 
treaties;  and,  above  all,  as  it  violates  the  faith,  sol- 
emnly pledged  to  the  North  in  the  Act  of  1820,  has 
our  determined  and  uncompromising  opposition." 

From  "  The  Gospel  Herald." 
REV.  GRANVILLE    MOODY  ON    ROMANISM. 

Springfield,  O.,  December  24,  1852. 

We  have  heard  the  whole  of  these  sermons,  so  far 
as  the  series  has  progressed.  They  have  occupied 
several  successive  Sabbaths,  and  will  continue,  we 
learn,  for  an  indefinite  period  yet  to  come.  They 
have  furnished  topics  of  discussion  entirely  new  to 
the  pulpits  of  this  city.  Aside  from  these,  among  all 
learned  dissertations  and  lectures  that  have  graced  our 
literary  halls,  since  the  era  of  their  introduction 
amongst  us,  there  is  no  field  of  thought  which  has 
been  so  ably,  so  thoroughly,  and  so  successfully  ex- 
plored, as  that  which  has  been  occupied  by  the  rev- 
erend gentleman,  whose  name  stands  at  the  head  of 
this  article.  It  might  be  agreeable  to  our  readers,  as 
well  as  to  ourself,  if  we  were  able  to  give  even  a  suc- 
cinct analysis  of  these  discourses ;  but  when  it  is 
recollected  that  they  were  delivered  at  weekly  inter- 
vals, embracing,  as  they  do,  so  vast  an  amplitude  of 
range  in  the  subject-matter  presented,  it  can  hardly  be 
expected  that  we  would  be  willing  to  risk  the  ac- 
curacy of  our  statements,  for  the  sake  of  a  more 
general  and  extended  notice. 

In  whatever  else  might  be  deemed  of  question- 
able propriety  by  the  thousands  who  have  lately 
crowded  upon  Mr.  Moody's  ministry,  we  think  that  all 
have  been  willing  to  accord  to  him  great  ingenuous- 


Advocacy  of  Reform  and  Liberty.     285 

ness  of  character,  and  honesty  of  purpose  ;  that  no 
selfish  or  sinister  motive  has  been  allowed  to  sway  him 
from  the  integrity  of  his  high  and  sacred  functions ; 
that  his  efforts,  throughout,  have  been  character- 
ized by  a  noble,  humanitarian,  and  philanthropic  aim; 
by  a  liberality  of  feeling  and  sentiment  that  is  worthy 
of  the  cause  he  advocates;  that  while  he  treats  with 
unmitigated  severity  a  system  of  doctrines  which  he 
not  only  believes  to  be  anti-Christian  in  their  ten- 
dency, but  subversive  of  good  morals  and  social 
order,  he  has  an  ardent  desire  for  the  reclamation  of 
those  who  have  been  misdirected  by  the  false  lights 
of  the  Papal  religion.  According  to  the  Christian 
apothegm,  he  "hates  the  sin,  but  loves  the  sinner." 

Before  we  heard  for  ourself,  we  had  no  conception 
of  the  great  necessity  and  importance  of  having  a 
clear  and  full  edaircissement  of  the  leading  doctrinal 
points  now  at  issue  between  Roman  Catholic  and 
Protestant  Churches.  We  believe  it  is  essentially 
connected  with  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
with  the  rights  and  duties  and  interests  of  American 
citizens,  that  they  should  be  kept  duly  and  regularly 
informed  of  all  that  constitutes  the  elements  of  dis- 
tinction between  these  two  great  sects  and  parties  in 
this  country.  It  is  not  in  the  light  of  patriotism  alone 
that  we  should  urge  this;  not  only  from  a  laudable 
desire  to  keep  our  institutions  on  a  basis  of  permanent 
security,  but  in  obeying  those  generous  Christian  im- 
pulses that  would  direct  all  their  energies  and  in- 
fluences in  the  dissemination  of  moral  and  religious 
truth,  thereby  dissipating  the  clouds  of  error  that  now 
envelop  so  large  a  portion  of  the  population  of  this 
happy  and  extended  domain.  We  speak  with  great 
deference,  but  wre  are  constrained  to  believe  that  the 
Protestant  pulpit  in  this  country  has  been  heretofore 


286  Granville  Moody. 

recreant  to  itself,  faithless  in  the  fulfillment  of  its 
sacred  trusts,  and  false  to  the  claims  of  humanity,  in 
keeping  silent  on  this  subject. 

We  have  often  been  pained  at  the  ill-directed 
efforts  of  the  press,  in  matters  of  controversy  between 
Romanists  and  Protestants.  It  has  been  made  the 
vehicle  of  the  most  severe  and  rigorous  denunciations, 
by  either  party,  instead  of  that  mild  and  pacific  spirit 
which  emanates  from  the  law  of  charity,  and  which 
is  the  legitimate  fruit  of  Christian  principle.  We 
read  little  else  in  the  periodicals  of  the  day  besides 
empty  and  silly  vaporings,  sharp  sectarian  pasquin- 
ades, bitter  criminations,  with  rancorous  and  bluster- 
ing retorts,  all  addressed  to  the  excited  jealousies  and 
angry  passions  of  men.  These  publications,  it  is  true, 
are  not  designed  for  the  ignorant  and  illiterate 
masses;  but  for  the  higher  class  of  society,  the  il- 
lustrissimi,  who,  by  such  a  course  of  procedure,  must 
forever  bar  every  avenue  that  would  lead  to  a  final 
triumph  of  the  Protestant  faith.  We  say  again,  the 
pulpit  is  the  appropriate  theater  for  these  discussions. 
The  living  voice,  addressed  to  the  living  ear,  is  the 
only  medium  through  which  we  can  gain  access  to  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  Catholics. 

But  to  return  to  Mr.  Moody.  The  course  he  has 
pursued  thus  far  in  his  litigation  with  the  Catholics, 
has  been  such  as,  we  think,  must  meet  the  unquali- 
fied approval  of  the  large  and  intelligent  auditories  he 
has  repeatedly  addressed.  He  has  been  generous, 
just,  and  magnanimous.  In  his  defense  of  the  Protest- 
ant rule  of  faith,  he  has  shown  himself  equal  to  the 
high  and  sacred  responsibilities  of  his  station.  His 
argumentation  has  been  lucid,  powerful,  and  con- 
vincing; drawn  from  the  uncorrupted  sources  of  the 
Bible,  and  the  archives  of  the  Church  from  its  earliest 


Advocacy  of  Reform  and  Liberty.     287 

records.  He  has  advanced  no  thesis  but  what  has 
been  severely  tested  at  the  bar  of  Reason  and  Reve- 
lation. It  is  to  these  points  alone  to  which  he  would 
bring  his  opponents  for  a  just  and  equitable  decision. 
In  his  exhibition  of  the  errors  of  popery,  he  has 
drawn  largely  on  the  voluminous  writings  of  the 
Romish  Church,  and  given  copious  extracts  from  the 
decrees  of  councils  and  other  accredited  works. 

We  have  only  further  to  observe,  that  if  the  ser- 
mons which  yet  remain  to  complete  the  series  should 
be  of  equal  ability  with  those  that  have  preceded  them, 
we  can  not  but  augur  the  best  results,  especially  to 
our  Catholic  friends,  many  of  whom,  we  learn,  have 
been  in  regular  attendance,  and  have  listened  with 
that  profound  attention  and  decorum  which  the 
solemnities  of  the  occasion  demanded. 

Of  Mr.  Moody's  style  and  manner  of  presenting  his 
subjects,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  speak.  He  is 
known  to  be  a  bold,  vehement,  and  eloquent  speaker — 
eloquent  in  thought,  and  often  beautifully  chaste  in 
expression.  He  has  great  originality  and  vigor  of  con- 
ception, and  is  peculiarly  happy  in  his  modes  of  illus- 
tration. He  has  a  strong  and  massive  intellect,  that 
grasps  a  subject  with  the  power  of  a  Titan  ;  and  so 
forcible  and  logical  are  his  conclusions  that  any  at- 
tempt to  escape  from  their  consequences  would  be 
fruitless  and  vain.  He  seeks  no  ornament  or  rhetor- 
ical display,  yet  there  is  always  a  sufficient  amount  of 
drapery  on  the  canvas  to  exhibit  to  advantage  the 
brilliant  coruscations  of  his  genius.  His  delivery  is 
often  rapid  and  impetuous,  like  a  mountain  torrent 
that  roars  and  rends  and  breaks  through  every  oppos- 
ing barrier,  leaving  naught  but  desolation  and  ruin 
behind  it.  He  is  exceedingly  graphic  in  his  delinea- 
tions of  character. 


288  Granville  Moody. 

On  one  occasion,  we  remember,  after  he  had  stripped 
the  Catholic  religion  of  its  extrinsic  coverings,  its 
gilded  trappings  and  meretricious  mummery,  he  held 
up  the  denuded  object  to  the  astonished  gaze  of  his 
congregation,  who  seemed  to  look  for  the  first  time  on 
the  appalling  spectacle.  He  rarely  adopts  the  popu- 
lar method  of  writing  his  sermons,  but  chooses  rather 
to  rely  on  the  spontaneous  resources  of  his  mind, 
prompted  by  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion. 

We  make  no  apology  for  this  hasty  and  imperfect 
sketch  of  Mr.  Moody,  nor  for  any  incidental  remarks 
we  have  made  in  such  a  connection.  Opinions  varying 
from  our  own  ma}7  be  honestly  entertained,  and  all  we  ask 
for  ourself  is  the  same  manly  and  generous  concession. 

Extract  from  the  '  Western  Christian  Advocate,"  January  19,  1853. 

We  learn  that  Brother  Moody  is  discussing  the 
doctrine  of  Popery  in  his  Church  in  Springfield,  to 
crowded  houses,  with  great  ability.  Few  men  can 
handle  the  sword  polemical,  on  any  subject,  to  equal 
Mr.  Moody.  We  would  consider  ourself  edified  in 
having  the  privilege  of  hearing  him. 

My  views  on  Romanism  are  embodied  in  a 
small  book  with  the  title,  "Popery  and  its  Aims," 
published  in  Cincinnati  in  1871,  at  the  request  of 
the  Methodist  Preachers'  Meeting,  before  whom  it 
was  originally  read. 

From  "  The  Cincinnati  Gazette,"  September  13,  1869. 
THE   BIBLE   IN   THE   SCHOOLS. 

The  Wigwam  in  Fulton  was  densely  crowded  yes- 
terday afternoon,  to  hear  addresses  on  the  subject  of 
the  proposed  withdrawal  of  the  Bible  from  the  public 
schools  ;  the  principal  speaker  announced  for  the  oc- 
casion being  the  Reverend  (or,  as  he  is  equally  well- 


Advocacy  of  Reform  and  Liberty.      289 

known,  Colonel)  Granville  Moody.  At  his  request, 
the  audience  sang  Hymn  81,  he  remarking  that  it  was 
composed  by  a  young  lady  under  circumstances  pre- 
cisely like  those  which  brought  this  meeting  together. 
The  lady,  fired  with  the  spirit  of  1620  and  1776 — the 
same  fire  he  hoped  burned  brightly  down  to  1869 — 
wrote  these  verses  : 

"  We  '11  not  give  up  the  Bible, 
God's  holy  book  of  truth, 
The  blessed  staff  of  hoary  age, 
The  guide  of  early  youth." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Moody  then  proceeded  to  address 
the  meeting.  He  said  it  was  now  attempted  to  pro- 
scribe that  blessed  Book,  through  which  their  liberties 
had  been  derived,  and  this  at  the  behests  of  a  power 
that  had  ever  been  the  antagonist  of  human  rights 
and  human  liberty.  As  he  was  accustomed  to  speak 
from  a  text,  he  would  select  Isaiah  viii,  20,  in  which  the 
terms  used,  "  To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony,"  were 
descriptive  of  the  revelation  which  God  has  af 
forded  us,  and  "  if  they  speak  not  according  to  this 
word,  it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in  them." 

There  were  those  in  the  days  of  Isaiah  who  con- 
sulted wizards  and  those  with  familiar  spirits,  rather 
than  the  oracles  of  the  Lord  their  God ;  and,  in  the 
language  of  the  Word,  God  reproved  them.  Instead 
of  the  living  appealing  to  departed  spirits,  and  praying 
to  departed  saints,  they  must  go  "to  the  testimony." 
If  now  as  then,  and  then  as  now,  they  speak  not  ac- 
cording to  this  standard,  but  embrace  alleged  tradi- 
tions of  the  Church,  said  by  Romanists  to  be  of  equal 
authority  with  the  Bible  itself,  it  is  because  there  is  no 
light  in  them,  but  darkness,  just  so  much  as  they 
ignore  the  Word  of  God. 

They  were  called  now  to  meet  a  question  of  high- 
25 


290  Granville  Moody. 

est  importance,  suddenly.  They  had  only  just  come 
into  the  "  tented  field,"  when  they  found  the  foe  of 
humanity,  of  liberty,  and  truth  upon  them.  On  the 
skirmish-line  the  old  powers  of  Romanism  and  in- 
fidelity are  blazing  away  on  their  front  already,  and 
the  cry  is,  "  To  arms  !"  and,  in  response  to  that  cry,  the 
people  are  now  in  battle-line,  and,  in  the  words  of  the 
hymn  just  sung,  they  say,  "  We  will  not  give  up  the 
Bible."  They  will  not  give  it  up  in  their  schools,  their 
seminaries,  their  Churches,  but  will  protect  it  as  the 
corner-stone  of  their  Republican  institutions.  The  op- 
position to  the  Bible  is  by  men  who  well  know 
where  to  put  their  sappers  and  miners  to  work.  The 
woodman  had  got  his  ax  to  the  very  root  of  the  tree  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty ;  but  the  Protestants  of 
America,  not  merely  because  they  love  that  tree,  and 
watered  its  roots  with  their  tears,  as  their  fathers  en- 
riched them  with  their  blood,  until  its  branches  ex- 
tended from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  its  leaves 
became  the  "  healing  of  the  nations,"  say  to  the  popes, 
archbishops,  prelates  and  priests : 

"  Spare  that  tree, 
Touch  not  a  single  bough ; 
Its  shade  has  sheltered  us, 

And  we  '11  protect  it  now."  (Cheers.) 

Two  hundred  and  forty  nine-years  ago  a  company 
of  Protestants,  who  fled  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Old 
World,  came  to  this  continent,  determined  to  found  a 
State  without  a  king,  and  a  Church  without  a  prelate. 
Seeking  freedom  to  worship  God  with  that  blessed 
Book,  the  Bible,  scarred  with  its  battles  of  centuries, 
as  their  guide,  they  established  those  institutions  which 
have  made  us  the  wonder,  if  not  the  envy,  of  the  world. 
Just  before  the  constitution  of  the  State  was  adopted, 
when  everything  looked  dark  and  unpropitious,  when 


Advocacy  of  Reform  and  Liberty.     291 

the  interests  of  the  North  and  South  and  West  looked 
and  seemed  irreconcilable,  and  they  were  about  to 
break  up  in  despair,  the  aid  of  God  was  invoked  by 
prayer,  at  the  solicitation  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  and 
three  hours  after  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  born.  All  the  voices  of  the  past,  from 
Mount  Vernon,  from  the  Hermitage,  from  all  the  ceme- 
teries and  grave-yards,  say,  "  Do  not  give  up  the  Bible  !" 

Mr.  Moody  then  proceeded  to  draw  comparison 
between  the  condition  of  Catholic  and  Protestant 
countries,  and  said  he  felt  warranted  in  the  conclu- 
sion, that  if  the  Bible  was  withdrawn^ from  our  schools, 
we  would  soon  pass  into  the  condition  of  those  people 
who  were  governed  by  priestcraft,  and  had  human 
tradition  substituted  for  the  commandment  of  God. 
He  said  he  would  here  cite  an  anonymous  commen- 
tary on  the  Bible,  which  was  worthy  ot  being  printed 
with  every  copy  of  that  Book : 

"It  contains  everything  necessary  to  be  known 
within  the  range  ot  its  discoveries.  It  affords  a  model 
for  the  ruler,  and  a  rule  for  the  subject.  It  gives 
counsels  to  a  Senate,  and  authority  and  direction  to 
magistrates.  It  cautions  a  witness,  and  requires  an 
impartial  verdict  from  a  jury.  It  furnishes  a  lawyer 
with  the  higher  law  for  his  guidance,  and  dictates  the 
sentence  to  the  judge.  It  sets  the  husband  as  the 
head  of  the  household,  and  gives  honor  to  the  wife  as 
the  weaker  vessel.  It  tells  him  how  to  rule,  and  her 
how  to  manage.  It  demands  honor  for  parents,  and 
enjoins  obedience  upon  children.  It  commands  the 
subject  to  honor,  and  the  servant  to  obey.  It  bids  the 
monarch  to  be  just,  and  the  master  to  be  merciful.  It 
smiles  on  the  bridal  hour,  and  irradiates  the  gloom  of 
the  final  scene.  It  promises  food  and  raiment  to  the 
honest  and  industrious.     It  points  out  a  faithful  and 


292  Granville  Moody. 

eternal  guardian  to  the  departing,  and  tells  him  with 
whom  to  leave  his  helpless  children,  with  whom  his 
widow  is  to  be  trusted,  and  promises  a  father  to  the 
fatherless,  and  a  husband  to  the  widow.  It  teaches  us 
how  to  set  our  house  in  order,  how  to  make  our 
will,  appoints  a  dowry  for  the  wife,  and  teaches  the 
descent  of  property  to  our  children.  It  defends  the 
rights  of  all,  threatens  the  vengeance  of  God  to  the 
defrauder,  the  seducer,  and  the  oppressor.  It  is  the 
first  book,  the  oldest  book,  and  the  best  book  in  the 
world.  It  is  a  book  of  history,  a  depository  of  the 
most  sublime  doctrines,  the  most  admirable  precepts. 
It  is  a  book  of  song  and  sentiment  and  poetry,  beyond 
all  competition.  It  is  a  treasury  of  knowledge,  a  col- 
lection of  the  wisest  proverbs.  It  is  rich  in  biographic 
lore.  It  is  a  book  of  models,  a  book  of  glorious  re- 
membrance, the  book  of  time  and  the  book  of  eternity, 
and  the  Christian,  with  a  Bible  in  his  hand,  resembles 
a  man  standing  on  the  summit  of  a  sunlit  mountain, 
where  suns  surround  him  and  elysian  prospects  rise." 
The  reverend  speaker  then  read  the  opinions  of 
Washington,  Chancellor  Kent,  and  others.  Washing- 
ton said:  "Of  all  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead 
to  political  prosperity,  religion  and  moralit)'  are 
indispensable  supports.  In  vain  would  that  man 
claim  the  tribute  of  patriotism  who  should  labor  to 
subvert  these  great  pillars  of  human  happiness,  these 
firmest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and  citizens.  The 
mere  politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to 
respect  and  cherish  them.  A  volume  could  not  trace 
all  their  connection  with  private  and  public  felicity. 
L,et  it  be  simply  asked  where  is  the  security  for  prop- 
erty, for  reputation,  for  life,  if  this  sense  of  religious 
obligations  deserts  the  oaths  which  are  the  instruments 
of  investigations  in  courts  of  justice ;  and  let  us  with 


Advocacy  of  Reform  and  Liberty.     293 

caution  indulge  the  supposition  that  morality  can  be 
maintained  without  religion.  Whatever  may  be  con- 
ceded to  the  influence  of  refined  education  on  minds 
of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and  experience  both 
forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can  prevail 
in  exclusion  of  religious  principle." 

Chancellor  Kent,  of  New  York,  said:  "The  gen- 
eral diffusion  of  the  Bible  is  the  next  effectual  way  to 
civilize  and  humanize  mankind  to  purity,  and  exalt 
the  general  system  of  public  morals;  to  give  efficacy 
to  the  just  precepts  of  municipal  and  international 
law,  to  enforce  the  observance  of  prudence,  temper- 
ance, virtue,  and  fortitude,  and  to  improve  all  the 
relations  of  domestic  and  social  life." 

Chief-Justice  Hornblower,  of  New  Jersey,  remarks  : 
"Let  this  precious  volume  have  its  due  influence 
on  the  hearts  of  men,  and  our  liberties  are  safe,  our 
country  blessed,  and  the  world  happy.  There  is 
not  a  tie  that  binds  us  to  our  families,  not  a  virtue  that 
endears  our  country  to  us,  or  us  to  our  country,  not  a 
hope  that  thrills  our  bosoms  in  the  prospects  of  future 
happiness,  that  has  not  its  foundation  in  the  Holy 
Book.  It  is  the  charter  of  nations,  the  palladium  of 
liberty,  the  standard  of  righteousness.  Its  influence 
can  soften  the  heart  of  the  tyrant,  can  break  the  rod 
of  oppression,  and  exalt  the  humblest  peasant  to  the 
dignified  rank  of  an  immortal  being,  an  heir  of  eternal 
glory." 

Robert  C.  Winthrop,  speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  in  1848,  says: 

"All  communities  of  man  must  be  governed  in  some 
way  or  other.  The  less  they  may  have  of  stringent 
State  government,  the  more  they  may  have  of  in- 
dividual self-government.  The  less  they  rely  on  pub- 
lic law  or  physical  force,  the  more  they  may  rely  on 


294  Granville  Moody. 

moral  restraint.  Men,  in  a  word,  must  be  controlled 
either  by  a  power  within  them,  or  by  a  power  without 
them ;  either  by  the  power  of  God,  or  by  the  strong 
arm  of  man ;  either  by  the  Bible,  or  by  the  bayonet. 
It  may  do  for  other  countries  and  other  governments 
to  talk  about  the  State  supporting  religion.  Here, 
under  our  free  institutions,  it  is  religion  which  must 
support  the  State." 

Go  to  Scotland,  the  land  of  the  Bible  (I  wish  I  had 
Burns's  ''Cotter's  Saturday  Night"  here,  to  read  the 
lines  where  the  peasant  poet  of  nature  describes  the 
gray-headed  sire,  before  the  hour  for  retiring,  reading 
the  sacred  page),  and  compare  that  country  with  Italy, 
with  Portugal,  with  the  south  of  Ireland ;  or  compare 
Bible-loving  Massachusetts  with  any  of  the  South 
American  States. 

In  17 1 7  a  committee  of  Congress,  in  consequence 
of  a  scarcity  of  Bibles  in  the  land,  ordered  an  impor- 
tation of  twenty  thousand  copies  from  Holland,  Scot- 
land, and  elsewhere,  and  thus  constituted  the  first 
Bible  Society  in  America. 

The  speaker  then  proceeded  to  remark  that  the 
Church  of  Rome  had  usurped  the  authority  of  min- 
gling up  the  Word  of  God  with  its  own  traditions,  and 
even  to  alter  the  Decalogue  by  striking  out  the  Second 
Commandment.  The  pope  has  issued  bulls  against 
the  publication  of  the  Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  as 
destructive  and  heretical.  It  might  be  destructive 
to  Romanism,  as  Romanism  was  to  the  Bible,  that 
was  all. 

At  the  close  of  his  remarks,  the  reverend  gentle- 
man requested  signature  papers  to  be  handed  around, 
protesting  against  the  exclusion,  on  the  part  of  the 
School  Board,  of  the  Bible  from  the  schools. 


Combating  Error.  295 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

COMBATING  ERROR. 

EVERY  minister  of  the  gospel  finds  error  in- 
trenched in  the  hearts  of  men.  There  is 
scarcely  any  form  of  doctrine  which  he  does  not 
meet,  and  more  often  the  false  than  the  true. 
Satan  himself  has  been  transformed  into  an  angel 
of  light;  and  the  preacher  does  not  always  possess 
the  wand  of  Ithuriel  to  compel  him  to  appear  in 
his  own  hideous  deformity.  In  many  systems 
of  philosophy  and  theology  which  we  account 
heretical,  "some  truths  there  are,  but  dashed  and 
brewed  with  lies  ;"  and  it  is  difficult  to  separate 
the  genuine  from  the  base,  and  to  attack  only  the 
base.  In  the  following  extracts  from  papers  writ- 
ten by  the  author,  some  of  which  have  been  pub- 
lished, the  reader  will  determine  for  himself  how 
successfully  this  has  been  done,  and  how  well  the 
right  has  been  upheld. 

From  the  'Western  Christian  Advocate,"  April,  1854. 
SPIRIT-RAPPING. 

The  Daytonians  have  recently  been  visited  by  the 
celebrated  Judge  Edmonds,  one  of  the  table-tippers 
in  Satan's  temple  of  infidelity.  The  Judge  was  ac- 
companied by  a  Doctor  Dexter,  of  whose  dexterity  in 
doctoring  soul  or  body  we  have  not  received  any 
special   revelation,   may    be   for   want   of   a   medium. 


296  Granville  Moody. 

Judge  Edmonds  estimates  the  number  of  believers  in 
Spiritualism  at  a  million  in  the  United  States.  We 
think  it  would  trouble  him  to  find  ten  thousand.  His 
idea  that  the  doctrine  is  more  readily  and  generally 
received  in  the  country  than  in  cities,  is  the  very  re- 
verse of  what  we  know  to  be  true  in  this  region. 
There  are  numerous  believers  in  the  city,  many  of 
them  intelligent,  worthy  citizens ;  but  among  the 
rural  population  it  would  be  nearly  as  hard  to  find  a 
Spiritualist  as  a  Mormon. 

The  judge  claims  that  Spiritualism  has  converted 
more  infidels  in  six  years  than  all  the  pulpits  in  the 
land  have  been  able  to  convert  in  twenty.  Converted 
them  to  what?  A  belief  in  God  and  immortality. 
This  is  no  conversion  at  all;  for  infidelity,  as  we 
understand  it,  does  not  deny  either  the  being  of  God 
or  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  It  disbelieves  the  inspi- 
ration of  the  Scriptures  and  the  divine  origin  of  Chris- 
tianity. So  does  Judge  Edmonds,  or  we  very  greatly 
misunderstand  him ;  for  he  scarcely  boasts  more  over 
all  the  infidels  whom  Spiritualism  has  convinced  of 
what  they  believed  before  than  over  the  twenty-seven 
professors  of  religion  who  lapsed  from  a  single  Church. 
The  light  of  the  Bible  is  being  diffused  most  glori- 
ously, bathing  the  high  and  the  low  places  of  the 
earth  with  its  celestial  glories,  and  Satan  and  his  allies 
can  not  hinder  it.  He  can  not  stop  the  press,  the 
altar  of  liberty  and  truth,  nor  shut  up  the  Bible  in 
convents,  nor  stop  men  from  hearing,  and  reading,  and 
thinking,  and  acting;  nor  can  he  cover  the  Church 
with  sackcloth,  or  despise  her  powers  ;  for  she  cometh 
forth  from  the  wilderness,  "fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as 
the  sun,  beautiful  as  Tirzah,  comely  as  Jerusalem,  and 
terrible  as  an  army  with  banners." 

But  one  thing  Satan  can  do ;  he  can  lie  as  fast  as 


Combating  Error.  297 

ever;  and  can  use  all  the  modern  improvements  in 
arts  and  sciences  and  society,  and  can  produce  that 
which  is  suited  to  the  occasion,  times,  and  circum- 
stances ;  and  his  present  policy  seems  to  be  to  mix  the 
ingredients  of  error  and  damnable  heresies  with  the 
soul-saving  truths  of  the  Word  of  God,  knowing  that 
error  is  to  the  soul  what  poison  is  to  the  body ;  and 
what  with  Romanism,  Rationalism,  Pantheism,  Tran- 
scendentalism, Swedenborgianism,  Universalism,  Ma- 
terialism, Fatalism,  Millerism,  Mormonism,  Spiritual- 
ism, drunkenness,  slavery,  and  war,  he  is  fully  armed 
and  equipped,  and  still  in  the  field;  and  "some  will 
depart  from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits 
and  doctrines  of  devils.*'  His  favorite  policy  of  decep- 
tion, deep  and  dark,  is  to  present 

"A  sprinkling  of  truth  and  a  quantum  of  error, 
Both  mixed  in  the  mass  and  dealt  out  together, 
With  enough  of  the  former  to  sweeten  the  latter, 
And  pass  all  together  for  genuine  matter." 

Wise  and  happy  is  the  man  who  can  say,  with 
Paul :  "We  are  not  ignorant  of  his  devices."  Let 
every  lover  of  God's  truth  and  humanity  take  the 
whole  armor  of  light,  and  wield  "  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God,"  and  we  shall  be 
invulnerable  and  invincible ;  and  despite 

"  Our  secret,  sworn,  eternal  foes, 
Countless,  invisible," 

we  shall  bear  the  banner  of  our  faith  victorious  round 
the  world! 

Dayton,  O.,  April  6,  1854. 

REASONS    FOR    NOT    BEING   A    BAPTIST. 

i st.  Because  the  Greek  verbs  bapto  and  baptizo  do 
not    always   and   necessarily   signify  to   submerge  or 


298  Granville  Moody. 

immerse.    (Isa.  xxi,  4  ;  Dan.  iv,  33  ;  v,  21  ;  Mark  vii,  4  ; 
Luke  xvi,  24 ;  1  Cor.  x,  2  ;  Heb.  ix,  10  ;  1  Peter  iii,  21.) 

2d.  Because  the  sacred  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  of  which  baptism  is  the  appointed  sign,  are 
applied  to  the  individual  and  not  the  individual 
to  them ;  and  are  said  to  be  poured  out  or  sprinkled 
upon.  (Psalm  lxxii,  6;  Isa.  xliv,  3;  Ezek.  xxxvi,  25; 
Acts  ii,  17.) 

3d.  Because  immersion  is  opposed  to  some  Scrip- 
tural allusions.     (1  Cor.  x,  2 ;   1  Peter  iii,  20,  21.) 

4th.  Because,  though  we  have  the  expressions 
"going  down  into"  and  "coming  up  out  of  the  water," 
yet  these  do  not  necessarily  mean  being  put  under, 
and  can  not  necessarily  be  construed  to  sanction  such 
a  practice ;  while  the  Greek  words  are  frequently  and 
justly  rendered  "going  to"  and  "coming  from"  the 
water  of  baptism. 

5th.  Because  the  circumstances  in  which  the  dis- 
ciples were  placed  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  when 
three  thousand  were  baptized  and  added  to  the  Church, 
render  it  highly  improbable,  if  not  impossible,  for 
them  to  have  been  baptized  by  immersion.  There 
was  no  river  running  through  Jerusalem. 

6th.  Because  there  is  not  a  single  instance  to  be 
found  in  the  Word  of  God  in  which  the  ordinance  of 
baptism  was  administered  by  immersion. 

7th.  Because  it  is  evident  that  the  expression 
"buried  with  Christ  by  baptism"  has  no  reference  to 
the  mode  of  baptism,  and  was  only  designed  to  teach  the 
true  believer's  death  to  sin  and  resurrection  unto  right- 
eousness in  Jesus  Christ.     (Rom.  vi,  3-6;  Col.  ii,  12.) 

8th.  Because  God  included  the  infant  progeny  of 
his  people  in  the  covenant  of  salvation  made  orig- 
inally with  Abraham,  and  ratified  in  Christ ;  while 
Baptists  unjustly  exclude  them.     (Gen.  xvii,  7,  10.) 


Combating  Error.  299 

9th.  Because  neither  Christ  nor  his  apostles  laid 
such  stress  on  a  mode  of  baptism  as  Baptists  now  do. 

10th.  Because,  on  the  theory  of  Baptists,  many  a 
devoted  minister  of  Christ  could  not,#  for  want  of 
bodily  strength  and  health,  administer  this  rite  aright. 

nth.  Because  many  in  the  Church  and  kingdom 
of  Christ  could  not,  by  reason  of  sickness,  infirmity, 
or  age,  submit  to  immersion. 

1 2th.  Because  the  administration  of  baptism  by 
immersion  is  often  associated  with  danger  to  health, 
and  indelicacy. 

13th.  Because  immersion  in  many  cases,  and  in 
many  minds,  destroys  devotion  of  mind,  and  excites 
agitation  of  spirit  opposed  to  the  equanimity  required 
in  religious  ordinances. 

14th.  Because  the  proscriptive  and  uncharitable 
and  proselyting  spirit  so  extensively  indulged  in  by 
immersionists  is  so  unlike  to  the  religion  of  Christ 
and  his  generous  gospel. 

15th.  Because  immersionists,  by  their  exclusive- 
ness  and  their  actual  or  implied  proscriptiveness,  rend 
the  body,  of  which  Christ  is  the  head ;  virtually  and 
practically  unchristianizing  all  who  can  not  agree 
with  Baptists  in  their  exclusive  views  of  a  mode 
of  application  of  water  to  the  person,  or  the  person 
to  the  water. 

1 6th.  Because  the  earnest  exhortation  that  such 
proscriptive  and  prescriptive  sectaries  are  accustomed 
to  urge  on  the  minds  of  young  converts  to  follow 
supposed  rites  unauthorized  by  the  Word  of  God,  and 
to  follow  Christ  in  a  mode  he  never  authorized,  nor 
enjoined,  nor  practiced  himself,  is  unauthorized  by 
the  Holy  Scriptures ;  and  division  of  the  one  body  of 
which  Christ  is  the  glorious  head — one  Lord,  one 
faith,  one  baptism.     "He  saved  us  by  the  washing  of 


300  Granville  Moody. 

regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  which 
he  shed  on  us  abundantly  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Savior  ;  that  being  justified  by  his  grace,  we  should  be 
made  heirs  according  to  the  hope  of  eternal  life." 

17th.  Because  the  baptism  of  Christ  is  no  example 
for  us  to  follow,  and  was  not  by  immersion  either. 
(Luke  iii,  21-23,  and  Num.  iv,  3,  28,  29,  35,  39,  43,  47; 
also,  Num.  viii,  7.)  When  Christ  was  baptized,  the 
Holy  Ghost  descended  in  bodily  shape  like  a  dove  upon 
him.     (Matt,  iii,  3-13,  17.) 

1 8th.  This  baptism  of  Christ  by  John  was  not  Chris- 
tian baptism,  for  it  was  not  commanded  nor  instituted 
till  three  years  afterward,  when  Christ  first  instituted 
it  on  the  day  he  ascended  into  heaven.  (Matt,  xxyiii, 
18,  19,  20;  Acts,  xix,  1-7 ;  where  we  learn  that  John's 
baptism  was  not  Christian  baptism.)  Paul  says  of 
the  Israelites  that  they  were  all  baptized  to  Moses  in 
the  Red  Sea.  (1  Cor.  x,  1-3.)  They  were  all  on  dry 
land  when  they  passed  through  the  Red  Sea.  There 
was  an  immersion  of  the  Egyptians  who  followed  the 
Israelites;  and  just  as  the  last  of  the  Israelites  went 
out  of  the  dry  pathway  through  the  sea,  which  was 
then  dry  land  to  their  footsteps,  and  all  reached  the 
further  shore,  baptized  by  sprinkling  or  pouring  (Psa. 
lxxvii,  16-20), the  waters  rolled  down  upon  the  haughty 
Egyptian  armies  then  in  hot  pursuit,  and  God's  and 
Israel's  foes  were  all  immersed  and  drowned  by  thou- 
sands. 

ON   THE  USE   OF   TOBACCO. 

Having  been   appointed  pastor  of  the   Church  in 

,    I    became    acquainted    with    a    Brother    B.,   a 

wealthy,  intelligent,  and  popular  member  of  the  Church, 
and  mayor  of  the  city.  I  found  him  a  very  genial,  ac- 
complished, and  liberal  member.  His  wife  and  chil- 
dren   were    worthy    members    of    the    Church,    and 


Combating  Error.  301 

I  respected  them  very  highly  in  love.  But  he  was  an 
inveterate  chewer  and  smoker  of  tobacco,  which 
showed  its  power  upon  his  person  plainly.  I  called 
his  attention  to  this  evil  habit,  and  exhorted  him  to 
abstinence,  but  all  in  vain.  One  day  I  met  him  in  the 
bank,  and,  in  the  presence  of  the  officers  and  some 
eight  or  ten  persons,  he  said : 

"  Brother  Moody,  you  have  been  talking  to  me 
about  my  using  tobacco,  which  I  do  use  freely,  both 
chewing  and  smokmg ;  and  now  I  want  to  settle  this 
question  with  you,  by  asking  you  a  few  questions. 
First.  Who  made  tobacco — God  or  the  devil?" 

I  replied:  "God;  for  he  only  can  create." 

"  Very  good  answer,  sir!  Second.  When  did  God 
create  it?" 

I  answered  :  "  On  the  third  day  of  the  six  days  of 
creation,  '  and  herb  yielding  seed  after  his  kind.'  " 

"  Third.  Now,  does  not  the  Bible  say,  '  And  God 
saw  that  it  was  good?'  " 

"Yes,"  I  replied. 

"  Aha  !"  he  said  ;  "  I  have  you  now.  God  saw  that 
it  was  good  ?" 

"Yes,"  I  replied,  "tobacco  is  a  good  thing  as  a 
dye-stuff  for  coloring  matter ;  it  was  made  for  and  it 
furnishes  the  richest  and  most  valuable  dye-stuff  for  col- 
oring brown,  extant ;  and  for  that,  God,  its  maker,  pro- 
nounced it  good,  and  '  very  good.'  But  not  good  for 
chewing,  smoking,  dipping,  and  snuffing.  One-half  to 
three-fifths  of  the  whole  crop  of  tobacco  of  America 
is  shipped  to  England,  France,  Spain,  Germany,  and 
Prussia  as  a  dye-stuff,  and  it  is  used  extensively 
in  America  for  that  purpose,  and  is  found  to  be 
'very  good'  and  indispensable  for  use  in  its  place. 
But  to  reduce  it  to  snuff,  to  dip  it,  as  women  do ;  to 
chew  as  plug,  and  smoke  it  as  cigars,  or  use  it  as  pro- 


302  Granville  Moody. 

vender  for  pipes,  or  grind  it  up  into  powder  as  snuff, 
whether  Maccaboy,  Rappee,  or  Scotch,  is  an  abuse  of 
a  good  creature  of  God  for  evil  purposes.  The  Bible 
asserts,  '  L,o,  this  only  have  I  found,  that  God  hath 
made  man  upright;  but  they  have  sought  out  many 
inventions.'  And  snuff  and  cigars,  and  plug  and 
twist,  and  fine-cut  and  Maccaboy,  are  some  of  these 
many  inventions.  And  there  are  other  culpable  in- 
ventions of  self-indulgent  man,  who  has  made  also 
'  Whisky  and  gin,  brandy  and  rum, 
And  many  other  things  that  make  drunk  come.' 

Many  things  which  God  made  for  good  purposes,  man 
has  appropriated  to  other  and  evil  purposes  in  the 
error  of  his  ways ;  but 

'  No  evil  can  from  God  proceed  ; 
'Tis  not  permitted  nor  decreed, 
As  darkness  is  not  from  the  sun, 
Nor  mounts  the  shades  till  it  has  gone.' 

The  right  use  of  a  thing  is  legitimate ;  the  mis- 
use is  its  perversion.  Tobacco  was  made  for  a  dye- 
stuff,  and  by  it  '  we  can  do  things  up  brown  ;'  but  we 
use  it  for  other  purposes ;  its  use  is  then  illegitimate 
and  injurious  and  pernicious,  and  by  it  we  seek  death 
in  the  error  of  our  ways.  Whilst  God  made  tobacco 
as  a  dye-stuff,  man  has  stuffed  his  nose  and  mouth 
with  it ;  and  though  God  made  man  upright,  he  has 
sought  out  many  inventions.  They  are  perversions 
from  good  to  ill.  When  first  used,  tobacco  sometimes 
causes  vomiting ;  but  the  practice  of  using  it  in  any 
form  soon  conquers  the  distaste  against  it,  and  the 
persons  who  use  it  acquire  a  relish  for  it  that  is  strong 
and  almost  unconquerable.  Dr.  Reuben  D.  Mussey, 
of  Cincinnati,  has  said;  'When  I  am  called  to  the 
sick-bed,  I  always  ask  my  patients,  "  Do  you  use 
tobacco  in  any  form  ?"     If  they  do,  I  can  not  do  good 


Combating  Error.  303 

to  more  than  thirty  per  cent ;  if  they  do  not  nse  to- 
bacco, I  can  save  eighty-five  per  cent.'  " 

By  this  speech  I  gained  my  case,  and  all  cried  out, 
"  Mr.  B.,  you  are  beaten,  you  are  beaten  !"     But 
"  Convince  a  man  against  his  will, 
He 's  of  the  same  opinion  still." 

He  continued  in  this  dangerous  habit  several  years, 
when,  on  the  side  of  his  mouth  where  he  held  his  cigar 
or  pipe,  a  cancer  was  formed  which  proved  fatal. 
Surely  "  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard,"  and  the 
end  of  these  things  is  death. 

From  the  "Cincinnati  Daily  Gazette,"  October  6,  1861. 
DEFERENCE   TO   MORALS   IN    POLITICAL  ACTION. 

Politics  is  "  the  science  of  government ;  that  part 
of  ethics  which  consists  in  the  regulation  and  govern- 
ment of  a  nation  or  State,  for  the  preservation  of  its 
safety,  peace,  and  prosperity,  comprehending  the  de- 
fense of  its  existence  and  rights  against  foreign  con- 
trol or  conquest ;  the  augmentation  of  its  strength 
and  resources,  and  the  protection  of  its  citizens  in 
their  rights,  with  the  preservation  and  improvement 
of  their  morals."  Webster  defines  the  word  "  moral  " 
as  follows :  "  Relating  to  the  practice,  manners,  or 
conduct  of  men,  as  social  beings,  in  relation  to  each 
other,  and  with  reference  to  right  or  wrong.  The 
word  moral  is  applicable  to  actions  that  are  good  or 
evil,  virtuous  or  vicious,  and  has  reference  to  the 
*  Law  of  God  '  as  the  standard  by  which  their  character 
is  to  be  determined." 

It  is  foreign  to  my  purpose  to  dwell  on  "moral 
law,"  "moral  science,"  or  "moral  sense"  as  embraced 
in  the  term  moral,  but  simply  to  call  attention  to  our 
moral  obligations  in  our  political  actions.  The  sense- 
less outcry   against    Christians    for  "  dabbling  in  the 


304  Granville  Moody. 

dirty  pool  of  politics,"  is  rendered  ridiculous  by  a 
glance  at  the  authoritative  definition  of  the  term 
"politics  "  at  the  head  of  this  essay.  The  animus  of 
the  outcry  shows  the  character  of  the  men  who  make 
it !  Politics  may  and  should  be  as  pure  as  the  spark- 
ling waters  from  the  rock.  Politics  "  is  that  part  of 
ethics  which  consists  in  ,  .  .  the  protection  of 
citizens  in  their  rights,  with  the  preservation  and  im- 
provement of  their  morals."  Politics,  then,  is  a  part 
or  branch  of  ethics ;  and  ethics  is  defined  by  Paley  to 
be  "  the  doctrines  of  morality,  the  science  of  moral 
philosophy,  which  teaches  men  their  duty,  and  the 
reasons  of  it." 

If  the  pool  of  politics  is  dirty,  it  is  because  men 
of  dissolute  morals  have  polluted  it,  and  it  is  a  shame 
for  them  to  take  advantage  of  their  own  wrong ;  and 
if  it  is  the  object  and  interest  of  these  men  to  keep 
our  politics  polluted  by  driving  away  those  who  would 
clean  out  the  cesspool  of  pot-house  politicians,  it  be- 
comes the  imperative  duty  of  the  friends  of  morality 
to  combine  their  influence  in  the  maintenance  of  pure 
political  action,  and  thus  secure  the  practice  of 
"righteousness,  which  exalts  a  nation."  Universal 
history,  observation,  and  experience  attest  that  it  is 
the  nature  of  immorality  to  lessen  and  diminish  a 
people ;  to  sink  and  depress  the  spirits  of  a  people,  as 
we  may  see  in  the  history  of  France ;  to  destroy  the 
wealth  of  a  people ;  to  deprive  them  of  the  bless- 
ings and  honors  of  liberty,  and  sink  them  in  the 
privations  of  slavery ;  to  provoke  the  displeasure  of 
Almighty  God,  and  bring  down  national  judgments 
to  complete  national  ruin.  Immorality  and  irreligion 
as  certainly  dry  up  the  resources  of  a  nation  and 
hasten  its  downfall,  as  a  worm  at  the  root  of  a 
fragrant   plant  or  fruitful  tree  will  cause  it   to  fade, 


Combating  Error.  305 

wither,  and  die.  Hence,  every  endeavor  to  suppress 
vice,  and  to  promote  public  virtue,  is  patriotic;  the 
execution  of  the  laws  against  vice  and  immorality  is 
patriotic ;  the  support  of  Churches,  Sabbath-schools, 
and  day-schools  is  patriotic ;  the  suppression  of  the 
hundred-handed  system  of  intemperance,  the  fruitful 
source  of  most  crimes,  is  patriotic;  the  observance 
of  the  Sabbath,  which  "was  made  for  man,"  and  is 
of  divine  authority  and  universal  obligation,  is  pa- 
triotic; and  all  these  are  but  parts  of  politics,  truly 
denned  as  "the  science  of  government,"  etc.  Why, 
then,  should  a  Christian  man  be  warned  away  from 
the  arena  of  political  action,  as  if  it  were  a  defilement 
to  his  professional  purity  and  inconsistent  with  his 
profession  ?  Ah  !  those  who  are  interested  in  the  im- 
moralities of  corrupt  politics,  dread  the  presence  of 
these  "higher-law"  men,  who  are  represented  as  the 
"light  of  the  world"  and  "the  salt  of  the  earth!" 
Like  the  Gadarenes,  who  were  engaged  in  unlawful 
business,  and  altogether  sensual,  and  requested  the  im- 
maculate Christ  to  depart  out  of  their  coasts,  so  these 
would  warn  away  Christians,  or  bid  them  hold  their 
principles  in  abject  abeyance  to  the  worldly  ends  of 
those  who  ignore  moral  obligations  in  political  action. 

Yet  all  men  are  under  natural,  moral,  and  legal 
obligations  to  obey  God  in  all  their  actions — domestic, 
social,  civil,  and  political ;  because  he  has  made  them 
rational,  moral,  accountable,  and  immortal  beings,  and 
no  age,  condition,  secular  concerns,  or  party  influence 
can  dissolve  their  obligations. 

It  is  indisputably  right  that  civil  government 
should  exist.  Wherever  there  is  a  relation  of  depend- 
ence, there  is  demand  for  government ;  and  as  we  are 
dependent  upon  God  and  upon  each  other,  the  consti- 
tution of  humanity  and  society  demands  both  divine 

26 


306  Granville  Moody. 

and  human  governments.  Civil  government  is  neces- 
sary as  a  means  to  an  end,  of  paramount  importance 
in  the  moral  rectitude  and  well-being  of  mankind.  It 
is  only  by  good  government,  in  its  widest  sense,  that 
virtue  flourishes  and  general  and  individual  tran- 
quillity is  felt.  A  man  would  far  better  have  a  lodge 
in  some  vast  wilderness,  surrounded  with  wolves, 
tigers,  and  bears,  than  dwell  in  a  community  without 
law,  since  "man  to  man  is  fiercest,  deadliest  foe." 

Civil  government  has  the  sanction  of  God,  and  is  of 
divine  appointment.  In  Deuteronomy  xix,  18,  19,  the 
God  of  Abraham,  our  God,  gave  these  particular  di- 
rections to  his  people  in  the  execution  of  law:  "And 
the  judge  shall  make  diligent  inquisition  :  and  behold, 
if  the  witness  be  a  false  witness,  then  shall  ye  do 
unto  him  as  he  had  thought  to  have  done  to  his 
brother:  so  shall  ye  put  away  evil  from  among  you." 
In  Ecclesiastes  x,  17,  the  word  of  inspiration  saith: 
"Blessed  art  thou,  O  land,  when  thy  king  is  the  son 
of  nobles,  and  their  princes  eat  in  due  season,  for 
strength  and  not  for  drunkenness."  The  Queen  of 
Sheba  said  to  Solomon  (2  Chronicles  ix,  8):  "Blessed 
be  the  Lord  that  set  thee  upon  his  throne  ;  for  the  Lord 
loved  Israel,  to  establish  them  for  ever,  therefore  he 
made  thee  ruler  over  them,  to  do  judgment  and  jus- 
tice." In  Proverbs  viii,  15,  the  Almighty  saith:  "By 
me  kings  reign  and  princes  decree  justice."  The 
Lord,  by  Isaiah  (i,  26),  promised  Israel:  "  I  will  purge 
away  the  dross  and  restore  thy  judges,  as  at  the  first, 
and  thy  counselors,  as  at  the  beginning ;  and  after- 
ward thou  shalt  be  called  the  city  of  righteousness, 
the  faithful  city.  Zion  shall  be  redeemed  with  judg- 
ment, and  her  converts  with  righteousness."  In  Prov- 
erbs xxxi,  4,  5,  it  is  declared:  "It  is  not  for  kings,  O 
Lemuel,  it  is  not   for  kings   to  drink  wine,   nor   for 


Combating  Error.  307 

princes  strong  drink,  lest  they  drink  and  forget  the 
law,  and  pervert  the  judgment  of  any  of  the  afflicted." 
Nor  does  the  Christian  dispensation  and  era  super- 
sede  the  necessity  of   human  legislation.     We   hear 
the  apostle  Paul,  himself  a  Roman  citizen,  and  know- 
ing and  claiming  his  rights  as  a  citizen,  saying  to  his 
brethren   in  the  city  of  Rome   (Romans    xiii,    1-6) : 
"Let  every  soul  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers;  for 
there  is  no  power  but  of  God.     The  powers  that  be 
are  ordained  of  God.     Whosoever,  therefore,  resisteth 
the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God;  and  they 
that  resist  shall  receive  to  themselves  damnation.     For 
rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the  evil. 
Wilt  thou  then  not  be  afraid  of  the  power  ?     Do  that 
which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of  the  same  ; 
for  he  is  the  minister  of  God  to  thee  for  good.     But 
if  thou  do  that  which  is  evil,  be  afraid ;  for  he  bear- 
eth  not  the  sword  in  vain  ;  for  he  is  the  minister  of 
God,  a  revenger  to  execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doeth 
evil.     Wherefore,  ye  must  needs  be  subject,  not  only 
for  wrath,  but  also  for  conscience'  sake.     For,  for  this 
cause  pay  ye  tribute  also,  for  they  are  God's  ministers, 
attending  continually  upon  this  very  thing."     What 
thing  ?     Why  the  suppression  of  vice  and  the  encour- 
agement   and  defense  of  virtue.     And  thus  we  have 
God's  warrant  for  politics  and  political  action  for  the 
same   great    ends.     Human    or   civil    government   is, 
therefore,  demanded  by  our  very  humanity,  by  society 
itself,  and  has  the    direct  sanction  of  Him  "who  is 
Governor   among  the    nations,    King    of   kings,  and 
Lord  of  lords." 

Again,  human  agency  is  called  into  action  by  God's 
enactment,  both  in  the  establishment  and  mainte- 
nance of  civil  government.  Thus  Moses  (Ex.  xviii,  25,) 
"  chose  able   men,  out  of  all   Israel,  and   made   them 


308  Granville  Moody. 

heads  over  the  people,  rulers  over  thousands,  rulers 
over  hundreds,  rulers  over  fifties,  and  rulers  over  tens. 
And  they  judged  the  people  at  all  seasons ;  the  hard 
causes  they  brought  to  Moses,  but  every  small  matter 
they  judged  themselves."  When  Moses  could  not 
bear  the  burden  of  these  hard  causes  alone,  the  Lord 
said  to  Moses  (Num.  xi,  16),  "  Gather  unto  me  seventy 
men  of  the  elders  of  Israel,  and  bring  them  before  me, 
and  I  will  take  of  the  spirit  that  is  upon  thee,  and  will 
put  it  upon  them,  and  they  shall  bear  the  burden  of 
the  people  with  thee."  God's  direction  to  the  "  United 
States  of  Israel"  was  (Deut.  xvi,  18),  "Judges  and 
officers  shalt  thou  make  thee,  in  all  thy  gates,  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  throughout  thy  tribes, 
and  they  shall  judge  the  people  with  just  judgment." 
The  precise  form  of  government  is  not,  indeed,  speci- 
fied, and  as  the  Israelites  were  permitted,  in  some  in- 
stances, to  choose  their  own  form,  and  as  different 
forms  did  exist,  we  consider  that  the  precise  form, 
whether  monarchical,  aristocratic,  republican,  or  a  gov- 
ernment like  ours,  which  combines  the  best  elements 
of  all  these  forms — viz.,  the  monarchical,  in  our  veto 
power;  the  aristocratic,  in  our  Senate;  and  the  repub- 
lican in  our  House  of  Representatives — is  not  essential 
to  the  divine  warrant  of  which  we  speak,  as  the  form 
is  of  less  consequence  than  the  end  or  objects  to  be 
attained;  viz.,  the  suppression  of  vice,  and  the  de- 
fense and  encouragement  of  public  virtue. 

Under  the  different  forms  of  civil  government  we 
find  a  varied  responsibility  resting  upon  the  people, 
and  the  more  direct  the  influence  that  the  people  have 
in  establishing  government,  the  creating  of  laws,  and 
election  of  officers,  the  greater  is  their  responsibility, 
the  more  sacred  their  political  obligations.  Hence,  in 
a  republic,  like  our  own,  where  every  man  is  a  sov- 


Combating  Error.  309 

ereign,  responsible  for  his  vote  only  to  God,  the 
highest  moral  obligation  in  regard  to  political  action 
exists. 

Our  duty,  then,  is  : 

First.  To  pray  for  divine  directions.  "  Moses  spake 
to  the  Lord,  saying,  Let  the  Lord,  the  God  of  the 
spirit  of  all  flesh,  set  a  man  over  the  congregation." 
(Num.  xxvii,  15.)  Christians  should  ask  wisdom  "  from 
God,  who  giveth  liberally." 

Second.  We  should  select  and  support  men  of  the 
right  stamp  for  office.  Here  is  the  proclamation  made 
by  the  chief  magistrate,  on  the  eve  of  an  election,  to 
the  whole  nation  of  Israel,  which  we  would  do  well  to 
heed :  "  Take  you  wise  men,  and  understanding,  and 
known  among  your  tribes,  and  I  will  make  them  rulers 
over  you ;"  "  Moreover,  thou  shalt  provide  out  of  all 
the  people  able  men,  such  as  fear  God,  men  of  truth, 
hating  covetousness ;  and  place  such  over  them,  to  be 
rulers  of  thousands,  and  rulers  of  hundreds,  rulers  of 
fifties,  and  rulers  of  tens."  (Deut.  i,  13  ;  Ex.  xviii,  21.) 
Notice,  1.  The  people  were  to  elect — "Take  you;"  2. 
This  election  was  to  be  from  among  the  "  people,"  and 
not  of  any  privileged  class ;  3.  These  candidates  were 
to  possess  specified  qualifications — men  of  wisdom, 
ability,  righteousness,  and  piety ;  4.  The  inauguration 
was  to  be  by  the  chief  magistrate,  Moses.  It  is  of 
little  use  to  place  men  in  office  who  are  strong,  and 
without  wisdom,  integrity,  and  moral  courage  to  do 
right. 

Third.  Our  officers  should  be  temperance  men. 
(Prov.  xxxi,  4.)  The  devotees  of  strong  drink  should 
never  command  the  suffrages  of  good  citizens.  God 
vetoes  it. 

Fourth.  They  must  be  just  men — men  that  fear 
God.     David   in  his  last  hours  said :  "  The  God   of 


310  Granville  Moody. 

Israel  said,  the  Rock  of  Israel  spake  to  me,  He  that 
ruleth  over  men  must  be  just,  ruling  in  the  feat  of 
God.  And  he  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  morning 
when  the  sun  riseth,  even  a  morning  without  clouds ; 
as  the  tender  grass,  springing  out  of  the  earth  by  clear 
shining  after  the  rain.  But  the  sons  of  Belial  shall  be 
all  of  them  as  thorns  thrust  away."  (2  Sam.  xxiii,  3-6.) 
God's  direction  to  the  judges  was :  "  Defend  the 
fatherless,  do  justice  to  the  afflicted  and  needy,  deliver 
the  poor  out  of  the  hand  of  the  wicked."  (Psa.  lxxxii, 
3)  ;  "  Remember  them  that  are  in  bonds  as  bound 
with  them"  (Heb.  xiii,  3.)  "All  things  whatsoever 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to 
them,"  said  the  Teacher  from  the  skies.  Hence,  we 
have  no  right,  knowingly,  to  give  our  votes  or  use 
our  influence  to  elect  an  ignoramus,  a  tippler,  an  un- 
just man,  a  public  violator  of  God's  law. 

Do  you  ask,  How  shall  we  know  such  persons?  I 
reply :  First,  by  their  professions ;  second,  by  their  prac- 
tices; third,  use  due  diligence  to  know  their  true 
character,  spirit,  principles,  ends,  and  pledges  of  the 
man  whom  you  choose  to  act  as  your  agent  in  polit- 
ical affairs,  and  cast  your  vote  according  to  the  limita- 
tions which  God  has  put  on  it.  God  having  author- 
ized and  required  civil  government,  it  is  not  for  you 
to  question  its  necessity,  or  neglect  your  duty  for  it; 
for  he  has  thrown  upon  you  the  responsibility  of  form- 
ing and  molding  civil  government,  with  the  specific 
view  of  suppressing  vice  and  fostering  virtue;  and 
you  are  responsible  to  God,  your  country,  and  pos- 
terity for  your  personal  vote  in  the  right  direction. 
Then  shall  the  people  no  longer  "  mourn  because  the 
wicked  bear  rule,"  nor  will  our  legislative  halls  be  dis- 
graced by  profanity,  drunkenness,  bribery,  oppression, 
revelry,    or   Sabbath   desecration ;    but    men    will    be 


Combating  Error.  311 

elected  to  office  who  will  fill  their  stations  in  the  fear 
of  God.  Sabbath  profanation,  intemperance,  bribery, 
legal  injustice,  will  be  extirpated,  and  the  people  will 
rejoice,  because  the  righteous  rule,  and  "righteous- 
ness and  judgment  shall  be  the  stability  of  our 
times,  and  the  strength  of  our  salvation."  (Isa. 
xxxiii,  6.) 

The  voters  of  free  America  occupy  an  elevated 
position,  indeed,  before  the  civilized  world.  They 
are  the  sovereigns  of  our  land;  they  will  come  with 
their  ballot  to  the  ballot-box.  In  the  exercise  of  this 
right,  the  weakest  man,  by  virtue  of  his  recognized 
manhood  and  citizenship,  is  as  strong  as  the  mightiest. 
That  ballot  is  the  token  of  inestimable  privileges,  and 
involves  the  responsibility  of  a  priceless  trust.  It  has 
passed  into  his  hands  as  a  right  reaped  from  fields  of 
blood,  and  suffering,  and  death.  As  he  casts  his 
folded  vote  into  the  ballot-box,  the  grandeur  of  his- 
tory is  represented  in  the  act.  To  the  ballot  has  been 
transmitted  the  dignity  of  the  scepter  and  the  potency 
of  the  sword.  That  folded  vote  becomes  a  tongue  of 
justice,  a  voice  of  order,  a  force  of  imperial  law,  secur- 
ing rights,  abolishing  abuses,  and  erecting  new  insti- 
tutions of  truth  and  love.  It  is  the  exercise  of  an 
immeasurable  power  for  good  or  ill;  the  medium 
through  which  you  act  upon  your  country ;  the  nerve 
which  unites  you  with  its  life  and  welfare. 

"  There  is  a  weapon  surer  yet, 
And  stronger  than  the  bayonet; 
A  weapon  that  comes  down  as  still 
As  snow-flakes  fall  upon  the  sod, 
But  executes  a  freemen's  will 

As  lightning  does  the  will  of  God  ; 
A  weapon  that  nor  bolts  nor  locks 
Can  bar— it  is  the  ballot-box!" 


312  Granville  Moody. 

Now,  shall  not  those  who  wield  that  power  be 
placed  under  the  moral  and  religious  restraints  of  re- 
vealed religion  as  far  as  possible?  May  we  not  ex- 
pect that  Christians  will  make  voting  a  matter  of  con- 
science, and  say  concerning  this  high  prerogative, 
"Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  and  then 
appeal  to  and  apply  the  truths  of  the  Bible,  the  infal- 
lible oracle  of  the  living  God ;  not,  indeed,  as  ex- 
pounded by  human  authority,  Protestant  or  Papal, 
but  as  each  one  shall  answer  to  God  for  the  use  or 
abuse  of  this  talent  in  his  day  and  generation?  Surely, 
"  this  day  for  the  hereafter  choose  we  holiness  or  sin." 

From  the  "  Western  Christian  Advocate,"  August,  1879. 
CAMP-MEETINGS   AND   THE   SABBATH. 

We  are  divinely  warned  against  ''becoming  par- 
takers of  other  men's  sins;"  and  when  Camp-meeting 
Associations  go  into  partnership  with  railroad  mana- 
agers,  and  not  only  furnish  the  occasions  and  induce- 
ments to  traveling  on  the  Sabbath-day,  but  require 
and  receive  a  stipulated  proportion  of  the  fares  charged 
for  such  Sabbath  traveling  to  and  from  camp-meeting 
on  the  Sabbath,  and  exact  a  fee  for  admittance  on  the 
Sabbath-day,  and  rent  out  lemonade,  ice-cream,  cigar 
and  tobacco  stands,  and  eating-houses  and  hotels,  and 
receive  the  proceeds  of  such  secular  business  on  the 
sacred  day  divinely  set  apart  from  a  common  to  a 
holy  use,  they  stand  indicted  before  "the  Lord  of 
the  Sabbath  "  for  its  violation. 

No  casuistry  can  clear  such  associations  from  the 
charge  of  violating  the  law  of  the  Sabbath,  and  they 
are  properly  chargeable  with  the  violation  of  our 
general  rules,  as  a  Church,  which  forbid  "  the  profan- 
ing of  the  day  of  the  Lord,  either  by  doing  ordinary 
work   therein,  or  by   buying  or   selling."     Ministers, 


Combating  Error.  313 

too,  even  those  who  are  preaching  constantly  on  holi- 
ness, sanctification,  perfection,  entire  consecration, 
and  the  higher  life,  knowingly  receive  their  stipulated 
fees  or  salaries  from  funds  which  are  accumulated  by 
such  barefaced  desecration  of  God's  holy  day,  and, 
preaching  a  higher  life,  condescend  to  this  lower  life ; 
and  the  demoralization  of  the  Church  and  the  com- 
munity around  is  the  result,  since  the  morality  of 
society  can  never,  and  will  never,  rise  higher  than  the 
morality  of  the  Church.  We  fully  believe  in  "  Scrip- 
tural holiness,"  and  have  labored  forty-seven  years  in 
spreading  it  over  the  land. 

We  are  cautioned  against  the  great  error  of  "sup- 
posing that  gain  is  godliness."  (1  Tim.  vi,  5.)  And 
Paul  tells  us  that  the  "perverse  disputings  of  men  of 
corrupt  minds,  destitute  of  the  truth,"  have  evoked 
this  ruinous  supposition.  They  suppose  that  gain  is 
godliness;  but  Paul  contradicts  them  by  immediately 
asserting  that  "godliness,  with  contentment,  is  great 
gain."  To  say  that  gain  is  godliness,  is  to  say  that 
utility  is  virtue ;  but  to  say  that  godliness  is  great 
gain,  is  to  say  that  virtue  produces  utility.  There  is 
an  essential  difference  between  these  two  dogmas. 
The  one  supposes  that  gain  is  the  supreme  good ;  the 
other  supposes  that  godliness  is  the  supreme  good. 
The  one  supposes  there  is  an  intrinsic  value  in  gain 
only ;  the  other  supposes  there  is  an  intrinsic  and  su- 
preme good  in  godliness  only.  The  one  makes  hap- 
piness the  supreme  good ;  the  other  makes  godliness 
the  supreme  object  of  pursuit.  And  as  gain  is  more 
agreeable  to  the  human  heart  than  godliness,  there  is 
great  danger  that  men  will  embrace  the  fatal  error 
that  utility  is  virtue,  and  that  duty  consists  in  seeking 
happiness  rather  than  godliness. 

Law,  Paley,  Dr.  Brown,  Hume,  Godwin,  and  many 

27 


314  Granville  Moody. 

English,  French,  and  German  philosophers  make 
virtue  to  consist  in  utility;  or,  in  other  words,  these 
loose,  and  in  many  cases  licentious,  writers  labor  to 
prove  that  "gain  is  godliness;"  or,  to  use  the  favorite 
phrase  of  infidels  and  papists,  ''the  end  sanctifies  the 
means;"  and  their  sophistical  reasonings  are  well  cal- 
culated to  bewilder  and  corrupt  the  minds  of  those 
minute  philosophers  who  wish  to  go  out  of  the  com- 
mon way  of  thinking,  and  thus  free  themselves  from 
moral  and  religious  obligations  by  adopting  the  first 
principle  of  infidelity,  which  is  the  most  disorganizing 
and  demoralizing  principle  in  the  universe  ;  which  not 
only  strikes  at  the  foundation  of  all  religion  and  mo- 
rality, but  equally  tends  to  subvert  all  civil  govern- 
ment, as  it  is  impossible  to  bind  men  by  civil  authority 
after  they  have  lost  all  sense  of  religious  and  moral 
obligation;  and  this  same  infidel  and  communistic 
doctrine,  that  leads  a  people  into  infidelity,  throws 
them  into  anarchy  and  confusion,  and  destroys  all 
civil  order  and  authority. 

When  advocates  of  Sabbath-breaking  camp-meet- 
ings meet  us  with  the  plea  that  they  thus  have  money 
to  pay  the  expense  of  the  camp-meeting,  and  that 
they  can  get  it  so  easily  by  placing  a  committee  of 
the  Church  to  exact  a  money-consideration  at  the  gate 
of  the  camp-meeting,  and  rent  out  ice-cream  and  lem- 
onade and  cigar  and  tobacco  and  provision  stands, 
and  run  hotels  and  eating-houses  and  barber-shops,  to 
be  operated  on  the  holy  Sabbath,  and  are  in  partner- 
ship with  railroad  companies  in  running  trains  on  the 
Sabbath-day,  and  gladly  receive  the  wages  of  unright- 
eousness, are  they  not  acting  on  the  key-stone  prin- 
ciple that  the  end  sanctifies,  ay,  and  justifies,  the 
means  ?  Are  they  not  declaring  that  utility  is  virtue  ? 
that  gain  is  godliness?     And  are  they  not  condemned 


Combating  Error.  315 

by  the  holy  apostle  in  thunder  tones,  when  he  rejects, 
with  abhorrence  and  utter  detestation,  the  dogma 
which  says,  "Let  us  do  evil  that  good  may  come;" 
and  asserts  with  vehemence  of  those  who  do  or  say 
this,  "Their  damnation  is  just?"  No  person  may  do 
the  least  evil  that  good  may  come.  To  do  anything 
evil  for  the  sake  of  securing  even  the  greatest  good,  is 
detestable  and  "damnable!"  A  good  intention  will 
never  justify  a  bad  action  in  the  sight  of  God,  who  will 
condemn  evil-doers,  though  they  do  evil  that  good 
may  come.     (See  Rom.  hi,  7.) 

In  a  recent  Sabbath-breaking  camp-meeting  for 
the  promotion  of  holiness,  etc.,  the  minister  prayed 
for  good  weather  on  the  following  Sabbath,  that  the 
crowds  might  assemble,  so  that  they  might  get  a  large 
amount  of  money  out  of  them,  in  fees  for  admission 
and  otherwise;  "for  thou  knowest,  O  Lord,  that  our 
Church  is  greatly  in  debt,  and  it  must  be  paid ;  there- 
fore, O  Lord,  give  us  good  weather  on  Sabbath." 
Some  ministers  and  managers  have  more  shrewdness 
in  their  public  addresses  to  the  Throne  of  grace,  but 
what  this  preacher  uttered  in  prayer  is  held  by  all  who 
believe  that  "utility  is  virtue  "  and  "gain  is  godliness." 

The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man ;  it  was  appointed 
for  his  spiritual  good.  Apart  from  its  beneficial  in- 
fluence upon  society  and  upon  every  temporal  interest, 
it  is  an  institution  of  unspeakable  importance  from  its 
bearing  upon  eternity.  In  fact,  there  is  no  religion 
without  it.  The  neighborhood,  the  family,  the  indi- 
vidual, that  willfully  violates  the  holy  Sabbath-day  is 
destitute  of  religion.  Those  who  disregard  this  se- 
questered day,  who  pervert  its  holy  design  by  attend- 
ing to  secular  concerns,  who  waste  the  day  in  idleness, 
or  spend  it  in  riding  or  walking,  or  visiting*  and  feast- 
ing, or  reading  secular  papers  or  novels,  or  writing 


316  Granville  Moody. 

letters  on  worldly  or  domestic  affairs,  or  go  off  on 
Sunday  excursions  to  zoological  gardens  or  picnics,  or 
pious  gatherings  are  running  their  vehicles  and  loco- 
motives pell-mell  over  the  commandment  which  says : 
"Remember  the  Sabbath-day,  to  keep  it  holy;  in  it 
thou  shalt  not  do  any  work." 

The  Sabbath,  in  its  divine  origin,  in  its  perpetual 
obligation,  in  its  holy  requirements,  in  its  important 
designs,  in  its  sacred  delights,  in  its  typical  represen- 
tation, is  worthy  of  our  highest  regards  and  most 
scrupulous  and  conscientious  observance.  'Tis  then 
that  the  Christian,  engaged  in  warfare  with  the  world, 
the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  like  a  battle-ship  at  sea,  lies 
by  on  the  government  docks  for  essential  repairs  of 
the  damage  he  has  received  through  the  week,  and 
prepares  again  for  action,  by  an  increase  of  that 
"faith  by  which  he  overcomes  the  world." 

Nor  are  we  foes,  or  indisposed,  to  our  camp- 
meetings.  Nay,  verily,  they  may  be  conducted  to 
man's  good  and  to  God's  glory,  and  the  extension  of 
Christ's  kingdom,  without  breaking  the  law,  which  is 
not  made  void  by  faith,  but  established  by  the  faith 
of  the  gospel  as  our  rule  of  life ;  for  though  the 
moral  law — the  Decalogue — is  good  for  nothing  for 
our  justification,  it  is  holy  and  just  and  good  as  our 
moral  directory,  and  its  observance  is  indispensable  to 
present  or  ultimate  acceptance  with  God;  for  "blessed 
are  they  that  do  his  commandments  [and  remem- 
bering the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy,  is  one  of  his 
commandments],  that  they  may  have  right  to  the  tree 
of  life,  and  may  enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the 
city;  for  without  are"  the  worst  kind  of  people.  (See 
Rev.  xxii,  14.)  I  fear  that  some  of  these  religious 
transgressors — excuse  the  association  of  the  terms — 
have  never  read  or  studied  what  God  has  ordered  on 


Combating  Error. 


3*7 


the  subject.  For  their  benefit  I  will  transcribe  his  veto, 
found  in  Isa,  lviii,  13,  14:  "If  thou  turn  away  thy 
foot  from  the  Sabbath,  from  doing  thy  pleasure  on  my 
holy  day ;  and  call  the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy  of 
the  Lord,  honorable ;  and  shalt  honor  him,  not  doing 
thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine  own  pleasure,  nor 
speaking  thine  own  words:  then  shalt  thou  delight 
thyself  in  the  Lord;  and  I  will  cause  thee  to  ride 
upon  the  high  places  of  the  earth,  and  feed  thee  with 
the  heritage  of  Jacob  thy  father :  for  the  mouth  of 
the  Lord  hath  spoken  it." 

The  rule  here  given  implies  that  men  must  not 
profane  the  Sabbath  by  doing  their  ordinary  work 
therein,  nor  by  inducing  or  furnishing  the  occasion 
for  other  men  to  do  so,  in  seeking  their  secular  inter- 
ests, or  by  spending  it  in  traveling  for  pleasure,  or  for 
recreation,  especially  under  the  specious  plea  of  hear- 
ing the  gospel,  and  furnishing  the  occasion  and  means 
of  making  a  holiday  of  God's  holy  day,  but  that  they 
should  delight  in  the  Sabbath-day,  "the  holy  of  the 
Lord,"    and   call   it    honorable,    and    honor    him    by 

saying : 

"  In  holy  duties  let  the  day 
In  lioly  comforts  pass  away." 

They  should  make  it  their  aim  to  lay  aside  all  employ- 
ments, pleasures,  or  discourse  which  may  direct  atten- 
tion from  its  sanctity,  without  any  other  intermission 
than  is  really  necessary. 

The 'Sabbath-day  is  specifically  a  day  of  rest  for 
the  brute  creation  ;  and  if  they  had  been  endowed 
with  reason,  and  could  speak,  they  would  bless  our 
God,  who  "takes  care  for  oxen,"  for  the  merciful  pro- 
vision of  the  Sabbath.  The  Sabbath  is  a  rest  for 
man's  body,  and  softens  the  rigor  of  the  obligation  to 
labor,  as  it  is  a  day  of  refreshing  pause  and  needed 


318  Granville  Moody. 

relaxation.  The  Sabbath  is  a  day  of  rest  for  the 
mind.  It  should  be  hailed  with  thankfulness,  ob- 
served with  holy  awe,  enjoyed  with  pious  resolutions 
to  honor  God  for  it,  and  to  seek  to  be  in  the  Spirit  on 
the  Lord's-day,  and  regard  it  as  a  type  and  pledge  of 

heaven, 

"Where  congregations  ne'er  break  up, 
And  Sabbath  never  ends." 

How  utterty  inconsistent  with  the  Sabbath  is  the 
appearance  of  many  of  the  camp-meetings  of  the  pres- 
ent day  !  Go  to  the  railroad  depots  and  see  the  jos- 
tling, hurrying  crowds  buying  their  round-trip  tickets 
to  camp-meeting ;  see  the  crowded  omnibuses,  express 
wagons,  public  and  private  conveyances ;  every  livery 
stable  emptied  within  ten  miles  around.  Listen  to 
the  signal-bells  and  wild  screeching  of  the  escape- 
pipes  and  whistles,  as  the  overladen  locomotive 
winds  its  way  along  our  valleys,  puffing  defiance  to 
the  God  of  the  Sabbath !  See  the  giddy  crowds  dis- 
embogue at  the  gates !  See  the  poor,  panting  mules 
or  jaded  horses,  covered  with  dust  and  sweat,  with 
red,  protruding  tongues,  tumbling  and  reeling  as 
they  drag  the  creaking  omnibus  to  the  "camp-meeting 
gates." 

See  the  red-eyed,  bloated,  swearing  driver,  lashing 
his  exhausted  team  along !  See  the  eager  committee, 
demanding  and  exacting  entrance-fees  at  the  camp- 
gates,  composed  of  class-leaders,  trustees,  stewards, 
"men  of  solid  piety,  of  good  natural  and  acquired  abil 
ities,  who  both  know  and  love  Methodist  doctrine  and 
discipline  !"  See  these  money  changers  of  the  temple 
on  the  holy  Sabbath  !  See  the  motley  crowds  !  Hear 
the  oaths  and  rude  jests,  and  see  the  ungentle  press 
when  the  time  for  general  arrivals  culminates  !  They 
crowd    the  grounds,   throng  the   aisles.     Part  of  the 


Combating  Error.  319 

usurping  crowd  hear  part  or  the  whole  of  a  sermon, 
and  then  they  march  and  countermarch  in  single, 
double,  treble,  or  quadruple  columns.  They  file  right 
and  left,  change  front  to  the  rear,  wheel  by  platoons, 
undouble  files,  and,  burdened  with  partners,  and  bas- 
kets, and  satchels,  and  whips,  canes  and  canteens,  they 
are  as  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners,  exhibiting  the 
commingling  of  the  virtuous  and  vicious.  And  now 
they  crowd  the  boarding-tents,  the  stands  for  refresh- 
ments, the  ice-cream  stand,  the  gingerbread  and  pea- 
nut booth,  the  lemonade  arcade ;  the  crackers  and 
cheese,  apples  and  peaches  and  pears  ;  the  general  as- 
sortment stand  attached  to  the  boarding-tent,  and  vying 
with  an  army  sutler's  establishment, — each  Sabbath- 
breaker  plying  his  vocation,  for  which  privilege  he 
has  paid  the  managers  of  the  camp-meeting  what  they 
expected  of  him  for  the  privilege  of  "  profaning  the 
day  of  the  Lord  by  doing  ordinary  work  therein, 
and  by  buying  and  selling,"  though  absolutely  for- 
bidden in  terms  by  our  Discipline  so  to  do. 

Of  our  camp-meetings  I  would  say:  "  As  the  new 
wine  is  found  in  ttie  cluster,  and  one  saith,  Destroy 
it  not  for  a  blessing  is  in  it,  so  will  I  do  for  my  serv- 
ants' sake  that  I  may  not  destroy  them  all,  saith  the 
Lord.  And  I  will  bring  a  seed  out  of  Jacob,  and  out 
of  Judah  an  inheritor  of  my  mountains,  and  they  shall 
dwell  there."     (Isa.  lxv,  8.) 

This  vexed  question  will  have  its  solution.  The 
enlightened  conscience  of  our  Church  will  rally  its 
forces  around  the  morals  of  Christianity,  and  "the 
righteousness  of  the  law  shall  be  fulfilled  in  us 
who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit." 
This  will  be  done  in  two  ways.  1.  We  can 
open  our  camp-meetings  at  two  P.  M.  on  Monday, 
and   close  them  at  two  P.  M.   on  Saturday.     2.  We 


320  Granville  Moody. 

• 

can  close  the  gates  on  Sabbath,  and  keep  them  her- 
metically sealed,  and  thus  not  be  chargeable  nor  guilty 
of  giving  this  great  occasion  to  the  enemies  of  the 
Lord  to  blaspheme,  and  then  wear  the  jewel  of  con- 
sistency, and  the  white  flower  of  a  spotless  and  blame- 
less life. 

We  are  glad  to  learn  that  the  higher  moral  sense 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  checking  the 
associations  that,  bearing  the  name  of  Methodist,  are 
bearing  our  reputation  to  the  dust.  The  reaction  has 
taken  place,  the  groundswell  of  holy  devotion  to  the 
sanctity  of  "  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  "  is  setting  in  ; 
and  though  those  who  have  invested  their  money  in 
these  enterprises,  which  furnish  the  occasion  for  and 
inducement  to  these  violations  of  the  law  of  the  Sab- 
bath— the  occasion  favoring  the  justification  of  these 
carpet-baggers,  Sabbath  journeying,  merry-making 
Christians — yet  they  are  as  powerless  as  Canute  to  stay 
the  swelling  tide  against  their  continuance. 
"  The  ocean  rolled  not  back 
When  Canute  gave  command." 

Already,  all  over  the  land,  the  oocasion  and  induce- 
ment and  the  justification  of  Sabbath  desecration,  in 
connection  with  our  camp-meetings,  have  been  stopped. 
Grand  old  Chautauqua  leads  the  van,  and  there  all 
access  to  the  grounds,  on  the  Sabbath  is  prohibited 
and  effectually  prevented.  I  will  close  with  a  para- 
graph from  an  article  by  George  Lansing  Taylor,  D.  D., 
in  which  he  so  graphically  describes  the  camp-meet- 
ing at  the  Thousand  Islands  Park,  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
River:  "During  the  whole  season  no  passenger  or 
freight-craft  is  permitted  to  land  at  the  company's 
docks  on  Sunday.  A  conspicuous  sign  and  a  vigi- 
lant watchman  enforce  this  rule.  The  result  of  this 
fidelity  to  Christian  principle  is,  that  passengers  come 


Combating  Error.  321 

by  the  steamboat-loads  on  Thursday,  Friday,  and  Sat- 
urday, and  spend  Sunday,  often  Monday  also,  on  the 
ground,  in  joyful  and  reverent  worship,  undisturbed  by 
the  sacrilegious  uproar  of  Sabbath  arrivals  and  depart- 
ures. In  consequence  of  this,  the  Sabbath  services  are 
especially  interesting  and  profitable;  and  many,  who 
come  with  no  special  religious  intent,  are  found  in  the 
inquiry-meetings  before  the  holy  day  is  over.  The 
preaching  of  the  gospel  on  these  high  days  is  always 
a  treat.  So  closed  a  peerless  summer  Sabbath-day." 
We  rejoice  to  learn  that  some  of  our  Western 
Camp-meeting  Associations  have  this  year  annulled 
their  covenant  with  railroads,  and  declined  to  receive 
again  any  part  of  the  fares  collected  on  the  Sabbath, 
and  have  withheld  from  all  parties  the  right  to  sell 
anything  on  the  Sabbath  beyond  the  bare  necessities 
of  life.  This  is  good — an  installment  on  the  debt  we 
owe  to  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath-day.  We  hope  that 
ere  another  summer  may  return,  all  our  camp-meetings 
shall  imitate  Chautauqua,  Ocean  Grove,  Thousand 
Islands,  and  others,  and  hear  and  heed  the  voice  of 
God  saying:  "Ye  shall  keep  my  Sabbaths  and  rever- 
ence, my  sanctuary;  I  am  the  Lord"  (Lev.  xix,  30); 
"  Verily,  my  Sabbaths  ye  shall  keep,  for  it  is  a  sign 
between  me  and  you,  throughout  your  generations. 
Ye  shall  keep  the  Sabbath,  for  it  is  holy  unto  you." 
(Ex.  xxxi,  12-18.)  At  any  rate,  the  Sabbath-honoring 
camps  will  get  the  patronage.  Let  us  imitate  the  holy 
women,  who,  having  provided  spices  and  ointments  to 
embalm  the  body  of  Jesus  after  it  was  laid  in  the 
grave,  rested  the  Sabbabth-day,  according  to  the  com- 
mandment.    (Luke,  xxiii,  56.) 


322  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

FRAGMENTS  OF  CLERICAL  LIFE. 

IN  the  spring  of  1867  I  was  laboring  in  Ripley 
as  pastor.  We  saw  and  felt  the  necessity  of 
building  a  new  church,  and  the  membership  com- 
menced with  great  unanimity  in  the  work.  We 
bought  two  lots  on  Main  Street,  and  took  up  a  liberal 
subscription  of  some  twelve  thousand  dollars,  and 
commenced  excavation.  We  finished  the  deep 
foundations,  and  were  ready  for  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone.  A  beautiful  day  it  was,  indeed,  and 
we  had  a  noble  program,  dividing  the  services 
among  Presbyterians,  Christians,  and  Disciples. 
The  whole  area  of  the  church,  112  by  45  feet,  was 
covered  with  loose  planks,  and  a  rostrum  for  the 
clergy  was  improvised. 

At  two  o'clock  P.  M.  we  convened,  and  took 
about  thirty  minutes  in  adjusting  the  outward  con- 
venience of  an  assembly  that  numbered  from  a 
thousand  to  twelve  hundred  people.  But  during 
this  convocation  of  the  good,  the  powers  of  the 
air  were  on  the  alert.  The  heavens  gathered  dark- 
ness ;  angry  masses  of  clouds  drove  up  the  skies ; 
lightenings  flashed ;  the  warring  winds  made  mel- 
ancholy music,  and  low  and  deep  and  growling 
thunders  gave  signs  of  a  coming  storm.  The 
pastor   of  the    Presbyterian    Church  prayed   with 


Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.         323 

amazement;  all  faces  showed  signs  of  fear,  and 
general  uneasiness  prevailed.  As  he  terminated  the 
opening  prayer  it  seemed  like  the  funeral  note  to 
the  enterprise,  and  many  countenances  seemed  to 
take  pleasure  in  our  sad  catastrophe.  As  he  ut- 
tered the  word  "Amen,"  I  said  in  a  loud  voice: 
"  Let  us  continue  in  prayer."  I  felt  called  upon 
to  make  a  special  plea  unto  the  Almighty  at  this 
crisis  of  the  powers  of  darkness,  which  seemed  to 
be  led  onward  by  "  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the 
air,  the  spirit  that  now  worketh  in  the  children 
of  disobedience."  I  rehearsed  to  the  Lord  the 
designs  and  desires  and  enterprise  of  the  Church, 
his  past  goodness  to  them,  his  near  relations  to 
them,  and  the  influence  that  the  present  enter- 
prise would  have  on  the  cause  of  Christ  in  that 
locality.  "  And  now,  Lord,"  I  continued,  "  this 
public  meeting  of  the  friends  of  Jesus  is  inter- 
rupted by  the  powers  of  darkness,  and  the  prince 
of  the  power  of  the  air  ;  thine  enemy,  and  ours  as 
well.  He  seeks  to  prevent  these  services,  and 
thereby  dampen  the  enterprise  of  this  people,  and 
thwart  the  enthusiasm  of  this  hour.  O  God,  our 
God  that  ruleth  on  high,  we  pray  thee  to  signalize 
this  hour  by  thy  delivering  grace.  O,  thou  God, 
who  rulest  on  high,  and  art  mightier  than  the 
howling  winds,  for  thine  own  name's  sake  rebuke 
the  devourer.  Thou  whom  the  winds  and  whirl- 
winds obey,  drive  back  this  portending  storm ;  re- 
buke these  howling  winds  ;  and  O,  thou  Lord  God 
Almighty,  exert  thy  power  and  bid  a  counterblast 
to  go  forth  and  drive  these  stormy  clouds  aback, 


324  Granville  Moody. 

by  the  power  of  thy  word ;  and  give  us,  O  Lord,  a 
sweet  and  calm  season  for  these  services;  and  may 
thy  people  rejoice  in  thee,  whom  winds  and  storms 
and  hurricanes  obey,  and  from  whose  presence 
devils  fear  and  fly !  We  ask  this  clearance  for  the 
honor  of  thy  name,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen!" 

At  the  closing  of  this  prayer  of  agony  and  de- 
sire, the  wind  veered  to  the  opposite  point  of  the 
compass,  and  from  blowing  up  stream,  it  swept  a 
hurricane  around,  and  fairly  leaped  in  its  course, 
and  came  howling  from  up-river  with  a  rising 
fury,  and  in  a  few  minutes  hurled  the  black  storm 
clouds  back,  back,  back,  down  the  river,  and  a 
clear  blue  sky  appeared,  and  a  smiling  sun  with 
gladness  in  his  smile.  The  change  was  so  direct, 
so  glorious,  so  speedy,  so  palpable,  so  divine,  that 
the  Church  was  radiant  wTith  joy,  and  the  people 
said  one  to  another:  "  Did  you  ever  see  the  like? 
It  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  wondrous  in  our  eyes." 

The  Lord's  ear  was  open  to  the  cry  of  his 
servant,  and  the  solemnity  of  a  great  epoch  was 
upon  the  whole  assembly.  The  services  went  on 
with  increasing  interest,  lasting  some  two  hours. 
It  was  regarded  as  a  day  of  wonder.  A  subscrip- 
tion was  solicited,  which  amounted  to  nearly  or 
quite  one  thousand  dollars.  The  people  rejoiced 
as  if  in  the  immediate  presence  of  God.  I  closed 
the  exercises  with  the  doxology  and  benediction, 
and  added:  "Now  to  your  tents,  O  Israel,  with 
all  possible  dispatch.  Farewell."  With  indescrib- 
able speed  the  clouds  mounted  the  skies,  and  such 


Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.  325 

a  rain  fell  as  had  never  fallen  before  in  the 
memory  of  any  living  man  in  that  whole  assembly. 

The  answer  to  that  prayer  was  a  miracle  of 
God's  power,  and  seemed  to  put  new  strength  into 
the  hearts  of  God's  people  in  Ripley,  which  urged 
them  forward  in  their  great  undertaking. 

We  extract  from  the  Ripley  Bee  of  the  Thurs- 
day preceding  the  dedication  the  following  notice 
concerning  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone :  "Those 
who  were  there  will  never  forget  it.  We 

see  to  this  day,  as  plainly  as  if  the  living  scene 
itself  rose  before  us,  the  inky  blackness  of  the 
sudden  storm,  and  hear  the  rattling  peals  of  thun- 
der directly  overhead,  and  feel  the  first  drops  of 
rain  falling  in  the  midst  of  the  ceremonies.  The 
crowd  began  to  scatter,  the  preachers  and  Church 
officials  looked  dismayed,  as  they  hastily  took  their 
hats  and  turned  to  go.  Suddenly  a  voice  above 
the  crash  of  the  thunder  called  them  back.  There 
stood  Dr.  Moody  towering  above  them  all,  his  gray 
beard  streaming  in  the  wind,  and  his  flashing  eyes 
upturned  to  heaven,  as  he  pleaded  with  a  power  and 
eloquence  that  can  never  be  pictured  for  the  stay- 
ing of  the  storm.  Like  Moses  of  old,  he  dared  to 
remonstrate  with  God ;  and  the  astonished  people 
looked  on  with  wondering  pity  that  he  should 
make  such  a  fool  of  himself.  But  a  strange  north 
wind  came  up,  checking  the  southern  storm.  The 
battling  clouds  struggled  and  rolled  with  fearful 
rapidity.  The  ceremonies  went  on,  and  the  crowd 
stayed  to  'see  Moody  get  ducked.'  But  not  a 
drop  of  rain  fell  until  the  doxology  had  been  sung 


326  Granville  Moody. 

and  the  benediction  pronounced.  With  the  sound- 
ing of  the  'amen'  came  a  flash  of  lightning  and 
a  crash  of  thunder.  The  heavens  were  let  loose, 
and  such  a  rain  came  down  as  had  never  been 
known  in  the  town  before.  Whether  this  was  a 
miracle  we  are  not  called  upon  to  say,  but  that  it 
is  a  fact,  none  who  were  there  will  ever  dispute." 

While  I  was  pastor  of  Morris  Chapel,  Cincin- 
nati, I  was  passing  up  to  the  Book  Concern,  cor- 
ner of  Main  and  Eighth  Streets,  one  morning  in 
January,  1861,  and  came  upon  a  dense  crowd  of 
citizens  on  Main  Street,  near  Seventh,  where,  in  a 
disreputable  house,  two  policemen,  who  had  en- 
tered at  eleven  o'clock  the  night  before  at  the  re- 
quest of  a  father  searching  for  his  erring  daughter, 
had  been  foully  and  fatally  stabbed.  As  I  came 
near  the  door,  an  aged  policemen  stepped  out  and 
said:  "Mr.  Moody,  do  come  in  and  speak  to  our 
two  comrades,  and  pray  with  them,  as  they  are 
both  fatally  wounded."  I  went  into  the  elegantly 
furnished  rooms,  and  the  proprietress  begged  me, 
as  a  minister,  to  pray  with  the  men.  I  talked  to 
them  as  dying  men,  and  prayed  with  and  for  them. 
They  understood  their  condition,  and  I  proposed 
Christian  baptism.  They  both  assented,  and  I 
baptized  them  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 
They  became  calm,  collected,  and  confiding. 

The  woman  of  the  house  asked  me  if  I  thought 
they  would  recover.  I  told  her  that  the  attending 
physician  had  pronounced  the  wounds  fatal.  She 
sobbed  aloud  in  agony  of  spirit,  and  said :  "  If  God 
will    spare    these    innocent    officers'    lives    I   will 


Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.         327 

abandon  this  abhorred  business.  In  any  event, 
this  loathsome  career  shall  cease.  I  renounce  it 
all."  I  approved  her  avowals,  of  course,  and  pro- 
posed prayer,  in  which  I  asked  pardon  for  her 
from  God  for  the  past,  and  grace  in  her  behalf. 
Shortly  after  this  prayer  both  men  died.  They 
were  buried  from  Morris  Chapel.  Four  days  after- 
ward the  red  flag  of  the  auctioneer  was  floating 
from  the  house  of  death,  and  another  haunt  of 
evil-doers  was  broken  up.  The  proprietress  be- 
came an  attendant  at  Morris  Chapel,  occupying  a 
seat,  the  second  from  the  door  on  the  left  entrance 
to  the  church.  She  was  plainly  yet  elegantly 
appareled  in  unalleviated  black,  and  was  a  devout 
and  attentive  listener  to  the  Word  of  life  which 
I  proclaimed  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath. 

On  a  Sabbath  morning  I  preached  the  annual 
missionary  sermon  and  took  the  collection,  which 
was  very  liberal.  The  woman  in  black  contrib- 
uted twenty  dollars  in  gold  coin.  A  few  days 
afterward  the  Daily  Times,  of  September  25,  1861, 
had  a  report  of  what  it  designated  "A  Missionary 
Infernal  Machine."  It  spoke  of  a  "  mysterious 
lady,  and  how  she  contributed  to  the  missionary 
cause,"  as  follows : 

''A  rather  singular  affair  has  come  to  our  knowl- 
edge which,  perhaps,  may  be  of  interest  to  the  public 
generally,  and  to  the  religious  population  particularly. 
On  Sunday,  the  8th  inst.,  the  Rev.  Granville  Moody 
devoted  the  services  of  the  morning  at  Morris  Chapel, 
of  which  he  is  pastor,  to  an  advocacy  of  the  claims 
of  the  missionary  cause.     On  the  Monday  following  a 


328  Granville  Moody. 

very  neatly  dressed  lady  called  at  the  coal-office  of 
Mr.  Cochnower,  immediately  below  the  residence 
of  Mr.  Moody,  and  engaged  the  services  of  a  boy  to 
carry  a  small  basket  to  the  residence  of  the  reverend 
gentleman ;  but  perceiving  that  he  was  about  to  de- 
liver it  at  the  wrong  door,  she  hastened  after  him  and 
relieved  him  of  his  burden,  by  taking  charge  of  the 
basket  herself— after  which  she  departed. 

"  Mr.  Moody  was,  in  the  evening,  apprised  of  the 
mysterious  action  of  the  lady;  and,  upon  questioning 
his  household,  found  that  there  had  been  no  basket 
left  for  him,  consequently  he  thought  no  more  of  the 
matter.  On  Tuesday  morning,  as  the  family  were  at 
prayers,  a  small  boy  presented  himself  at  the  door, 
and  handed  to  the  minister  a  small  but  very  heavy 
parcel,  which  bore  this  direction,  '  Rev.  Granville 
Moody,  for  the  Missionary  Cause.' 

"Ministers  are  not  unaccustomed  to  receive  dona- 
tions from  their  friends,  but  they  are  generally  of  a 
character  not  so  weighty  as  the  one  in  question ;  and, 
as  Mr.  Moody  is  a  strong  advocate  of  Union  princi- 
ples, on  any  and  all  occasions,  the  idea  immediately 
flashed  upon  his  brain  that  it  was  intended  by  some 
secessionist  to  make  him  the  victim  of  an  infernal 
machine,  and  blow  him  all  to  pieces.  This  thought, 
of  course,  led  him  to  look  at  the  heavy  offering  in  a 
very  suspicious  light,  and  to  induce  him  to  remove 
all  the  little  Moodys  to  a  safe  distance  before  he  pro- 
ceeded to  open  it,  in  the  hope  that  if  the  rebels  wished 
to  destroy  him,  and  succeeded,  there  would  be  some 
of  the  stock  left  to  give  them  trouble  in  all  coming 
time.  In  the  presence  of  a  friend  he  proceeded  to 
undo  the  fastenings  of  the  bundle.  Cautious  as  to 
this  proceeding,  and  fraught  with  the  idea  that  every 
string  might  pull  some  unseen  trigger,  it  was  placed 


Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.        329 

around  the  angle  of  the  wall,  and  by  an  outstretched 
arm,  bent  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  it  was  freed 
from  its  outer  fastenings.  The  next  development  was 
a  fig-box,  the  lid  of  which  was  fastened  down  with 
copper  tacks.  The  danger  here  appeared  to  be  in- 
creasing, and  it  became  necessary  to  use  redoubled 
vigilance.  To  remove  the  lid  might  cause  the  explo- 
sion of  some  vile  invention  of  the  enemy,  and  create 
havoc  and  destruction.  At  this  point  of  the  proceed- 
ings a  lucky  thought  occurred  to  the  minister.  Of 
course  the  villains  intended  that  he  should  open  it  at 
the  top,  and  some  secret  spring  to  the  lid  should  do 
the  work.  He  could  foil  them,  and  satisfy  his  curiosity 
by  cutting  into  the  bottom. 

"  To  plan  and  to  execute  was  the  work  of  several 
minutes,  but,  after  ruining  a  good  pocket-knife,  and 
expending  considerable  patience,  an  aperture  was 
made  in  the  box,  and  out  rolled  a  twenty-dollar  gold 
piece,  and  then  another,  and  another,  with  the  prospect 
that  there  were  still  '  a  few  more  left  of  the  same  sort/ 
So  it  was  not  an  infernal  machine  at  all,  but  a  donation, 
from  some  very  charitable  but  unknown  lady,  to  the 
missionary  cause,  in  the  behalf  of  which  the  reverend 
gentleman  had  so  eloquently  appealed  to  his  hearers 
on  the  previous  Sabbath.  A  more  thorough  and  less 
cautious  method  was  now  adopted  to  relieve  the 
box  of  its  contents,  which  were  found  to  be  neither 
powder  nor  lead,  but  twelve  hundred  and  eighty  dollars 
in  that  more  weighty  mineral,  gold,  all  of  which,  it 
was  the  desire  of  the  donor,  should  be  devoted  to  the 
enlightenment  of  the  heathen.  The  mone}'  was 
transferred  to  the  Missionary  Society,  but  no  tidings 
have  as  yet  been  gathered  as  to  the  lady  who  thought 
fit  to  adopt  so  mysterious  a  method  in  forwarding  so 
liberal  a  donation." 

28 


330  Granville  Moody. 

I  think  I  know  the  source  of  the  donation  men- 
tioned in  the  foregoing  extract.  I  think  the  "  woman 
in  black  "  furnished  the  gold  as  a  sin-offering  to  the 
Lord,  in  proof  to  the  Lord  that  she  had  renounced 
her  evil  life.  A  clearer  case  of  sorrow  for  sin, 
with  deep  abasement  for  iniquity,  I  never  wit- 
nessed. I  pray  God  to  receive  her  repentance 
unto  life ;  and 

"  'Stablish  with  her  the  covenant  new, 
And  stamp  His  image  on  her  heart." 

In  the  year  1858  I  spent  several  days  in  Jasper 
County,  Indiana,  where  my  real  estate  is  located. 
One  day  I  went  to  Rensselaer,  the  county  seat  of 
said  county,  and  called  at  the  Methodist  parsonage 
to  see  the  pastor,  Aaron  Hays,  an  old  friend  of 
mine.  During  a  somewhat  protracted  conversa- 
tion, the  name  of  a  young  man  who  was  teaching 
school  in  the  town  was  mentioned.  Some  things 
that  were  said  gave  me  a  desire  to  see  him,  and 
know  more  about  him.  When  I  arose  to  depart, 
the  pastor  invited  me  to  return  in  the  evening,  and 
spend  the  night  under  his  roof.  I  accepted  the  in- 
vitation. 

On  going  out  of  the  town  to  meet  some  engage- 
ments for  the  afternoon,  I  met  a  young  man  coming 
from  the  direction  in  which  I  was  going.  I  had  an 
impression  that  he  was  the  one  whose  name  I 
had  heard  mentioned  at  the  parsonage.  So  strong 
was  the  impression  that  when  we  came  near  each 
other,  I  stopped  and  asked  him  his  name  ;  he  re- 
plied, "Joyce."  I  said:  "  Are  you  the  young  man 
who    is    teaching    school   in    town ;    and    are    the 


Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.         331 

Methodist  minister's  children  members  of  your 
school?"  He  answered:  "Yes."  I  asked  him  a 
number  of  questions.  I  found  he  was  a  member 
of  the  United  Brethren  Church  ;  had  been  con- 
verted when  sixteen  years  of  age  ;  was  at  the  time 
twenty-two  years  old ;  and  was  now  teaching  school 
in  order  to  pay  some  debts  contracted  during  his 
struggle  in  college  to  secure  his  education.  His 
purpose  was  to  enter  the  Christian  ministry.  He 
was  then  a  local  preacher  in  the  United  Brethren 
Church  ;  had,  however,  preached  only  a  few  times, 
and  had  in  a  few  instances  announced  a  hymn,  and 
offered  prayer  in  the  Methodist  Church  at  the  close 
of  the  pastor's  sermon.  A  few  more  questions 
brought  out  the  fact  that  he  was  becoming  much 
dissatisfied  with  the  United  Brethren  Church,  be- 
cause of  the  opposition  he  found  on  the  part  of 
some  of  the  ministers  of  that  Church  to  an  edu- 
cated ministry. 

He  was  quite  poor,  had  struggled  hard  to  se- 
cure an  education,  and  was  rapidly  becoming  un- 
willing to  give  his  life  to  a  Church  where  so  little 
was,  at  that  time,  done  for  the  cause  of  education. 
His  replies  to  all  my  questions  convinced  me  at 
once  of  a  duty  I  owed  to  this  young  man.  He 
was  correct  and  exact  in  his  responses,  and  gave 
evidence  of  a  superior  mind.  I  said  to  him: 
"Please  meet  me  at  the  parsonage  to-night,  and 
we  will  continue  this  conversation." 

I  went  and  met  my  engagement,  and  returned 
to  the  home  of  my  friend,  the  pastor.  The  young 
man  soon  after  came  in,  and  was  cordially  greeted 


332  Granville  Moody. 

by  the  family,  as  well  as  myself.  I  said  to  him : 
"  Brother,  I  have  been  thinking  much  about  our 
conversation  this  afternoon,  and  I  am  impressed 
that  God  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
have  need  of  you."  I  added:  "You  can  better 
your  condition  by  a  change  of  your  Church  rela- 
tions, which  will  demand  no  change  in  your  relig- 
ious views.  Suppose  you  allow  me  to  move  in 
this  change  of  your  Church  relations.  Come  over 
into  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  We  can  give 
you  a  larger  field  of  labor  in  the  ministry,  without 
any  material  change  of  sentiment ;  and  employ- 
ment in  preaching  the  gospel,  without  burdening 
you  five  days  in  each  week  with  the  dull  routine 
and  anxious  cares  of  a  pedagogue,  and  thus  leave 
but  the  dull  remains  of  life  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  Come,  my  brother,  put  your  case  in  my 
hands  this  week.  I  am  going  to-morrow  through 
Lafayette,  and  I  will  see  Benjamin  Winans,  pre- 
siding elder  of  that  district.  I  will  represent  you 
and  your  condition  to  him,  as  his  next  quarterly 

meeting  in  will  be    held   three  weeks   from 

Saturday.  I  will  ask  him  to  take  your  name  to 
the  annual  conference,  so  that  you  may  receive  an 
appointment,  under  a  presiding  elder,  as  a  supply 
on  some  circuit.  Then  the  regular  recommenda- 
tions from  some  quarterly  conference  can  be  taken 
up  the  next  year.  I  will  stop  on  my  way  home 
and  get  all  ready  for  you  to  make  the  change  in 
your  Church  relations,  and  it  will  be  for  God's 
glory,  for  your  greater  usefulness,  and  will  afford 
you  a  competent  support,  and  a  much  wider  field 


Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.         333 

of  usefulness.  Now  then,  dear  brother,  just  say, 
*■  I  will,'  and,  under  God  and  the  presiding  elder, 
I  will  do  the  rest." 

He  was  much  moved  at  my  proposal.  He  asked 
several  pointed  questions  about  the  doctrines  and 
government  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  wanted  to  know  more  fully  of  the  nature  of 
the  requirements  of  its  ministry.  I  found  that 
fears  were  rising  in  his  manly  mind  as  to  his 
competency  to  the  work  in  our  communion,  to 
which  he  gave  becoming  utterances,  and  to  which 
I  gave  suitable  responses.  After  struggling  ex- 
ercises of  mind,  commingled  with  becoming  fears 
of  inadequacy  to  the  work,  he  at  length  re- 
sponded :  "  I  agree  with  you,  sir,  in  sentiment,  and 
I  put  my  application  into  your  hands,  and  the 
presiding  elder's."  I  said:  "Amen!  and  may  this 
auspicious  interview  be  an  augury  of  success,  with 
God's  blessing!"  He  was  at  once  received  into  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  by  Brother  Hays, 
as  a  full  member,  on  his  credentials  as  a  local 
preacher  among  the  United  Brethren. 

The  next  day  I  found  the  presiding  elder, 
represented  the  matter,  and  met  with  heartiest 
co-operation.  All  the  doors  and  locks,  as  in  Peter's 
exodus  from  prison,  opened  of  themselves.  The 
Reverend  Brother  Joyce  rejoiced  in  the  happy 
change  that  had  taken  place  in  his  Church  rela- 
tions. He  has  had  a  succession  of  the  best  ap- 
pointments in  an  Indiana  Conference,  where  he  has 
made  full  proof  of  his  ministry  during  thirteen 
years  of  service;  and,  in  1880,  he  was  transferred 


334  Granville  Moody. 

and  appointed  to  the  best  charge  in  the  Cincinnati 
Annual  Conference ;  and,  at  the  last  conference, 
held  in  Hamilton,  he  received  his  fourth  appoint- 
ment to  one  of  the  first-class  Churches  of  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio.*     "  All  is  well  that  ends  well." 

I  was  recently  invited  (Hamilton,  O.,  1883),  to 
dine  with  this  reverend  Indiana  brother  at  the 
residence  of  Daniel  Webster  Fitton.  Incidentally 
his  exodus  was  alluded  to,  and  with  much  feeling 
he  begged  me  to  recite  the  events  of  his  intro- 
duction to  Indiana  and  Ohio  Methodism.  The 
narration  of  these  events  beguiled  and  enlivened 
an  hour  replete  with  interest  and  enraptured 
with  joy. 

"When  Time,  who  steals  our  years  away, 
Shall  take  our  pleasures  too, 
The  memory  of  the  past  shall  stay, 
And  half  those  joys  renew." 

The  following  statement  concerning  a  prayer 
over  a  "  Sermonette,"  is  taken  from  the  Dayton 
Journal.  I  have  to  confess  to  the  truth  of  it — 
in  the  main  !  u  A  few  years  ago,  Dr.  Moody  was 
waited  upon  by  a  committee  of  the  official  board 
with  a  request  to  preach  shorter  sermons.  He 
consented,  and  on  the  next  Sabbath  read  a  little 
fifteen-minute  address,  and  closed  with  a  prayer 
proportionally  short,  as   follows :   "  Lord,    let  thy 


*  Isaac  W.  Joyce,  here  referred  to,  was  pastor  of  St.  Paul 
and  Trinity  Churches  in  Cincinnati,  serving  each  of  these 
charges  three  years.  In  1886  he  was  reappointed  to  St.  Paul, 
and  while  pastor  of  that  charge  was  chosen  by  the  Cincinnati 
Conference  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of  1888.  At 
this  General  Conference  he  was  elected  one  of  the  bishops  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. — Editor. 


Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.         335 

blessing  rest  upon  this  '  sermonette  ;'  and,  if  thou 
canst,  use  it  to  thy  glory.     Amen." 

In  1 86 1,  Judge  Bellamy  Storer,  seeing  me  on 
Fourth  Street,  in  Cincinnati,  approached,  shrugging 
first  one  shoulder  and  then  the  other,  and  exclaimed 
as  we  met:  "O,  Dr.  Moody,  I  spasmodically  shrug 
my  shoulders  every  time  I  see  you,  sir ;  for  you  are 
the  facsimile  of  your  honored  father,  my  early  pre- 
ceptor in  Portland,  Maine,  who  so  seasonably  and 
efficiently  administered  the  master's  ferule  or  rattan 
to  my  hand  or  shoulders  for  juvenile  delinquencies 
when  I  was  a  pupil  in  his  seminary.  I  twitch  my 
hand  or  shrug  my  shoulders  involuntarily,  as  if  I 
were  in  danger  of  another  feruling  or  flagellation  for 
misfeasance  or  malfeasance.  But  he  was  a  grand 
teacher,  a  preceptor  of  the  olden  time,  '  who  knew 
his  rights,  and  knowing,  dared  maintain'  them. 
He  was  of  a  regular  Puritanic  family,  and  you 
may  well  be  proud  of  your  ancestry." 

On  my  entrance  into  the  army,  Judge  Storer 
presented  me  with  an  elegant  outfit  as  colonel.  I 
named  a  fort  which  I  built  in  Jefferson,  Tennessee, 
"Fort  Storer;"  and  another,  located  diagonally 
opposite  to  it,  "  Fort  Thomas,"  after  Hon.  Nich- 
olas W.  Thomas,  formerly  mayor  of  the  city  of 
Cincinnati,  who  presented  me  with  a  grand  war- 
horse,  black  all  over — a  good  description  of  which 
may  be  read  in  Job  xxxix,  19-25. 


336  Granville  Moody. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

AS  COLONEL  OF  A  REGIMENT. 

WHEN  the  Civil  War  in  the  United  States  was 
inaugurated  after  the  election  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  to  the  Presidency,  it  was  a  question  with 
the  author  how  he  could  best  serve  his  country. 
After  long  pondering  the  matter  and  conferring 
with  his  friends,  he  came  to  the  definite  and  sol- 
emn conclusion  that  the  government  needed  his 
services  as  a  soldier.  Belonging  to  the  Church 
militant,  it  was  not  difficult  for  him  to  reconcile 
the  work  of  the  ministry  with  the  duty  of  a  pa- 
triot. When  his  friends  proposed  to  recommend 
him  to  the  governor  of  Ohio  for  a  commission  as 
colonel  of  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment,  some  of 
the  companies  of  which  were  composed  largely  ol 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  he 
gave  his  consent,  and  he  was  appointed.  The 
following  letters  and  extracts  contain  some  addi- 
tional facts  concerning  his  introduction  into  and 
connection  with  the  army : 

From  a  Cincinnati  Daily  Paper,  December,  1861. 

After  a  lengthy  consideration  of  the  matter,  the 
Rev.  Granville  Moody  has  agreed  to  accept  the  col- 
onelcy of  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment.  The  com- 
mand was  tendered  him  about  one  month  since,  and 
the  offer  has  remained  open,  the  officers  of  the  regi- 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.  337 

ment  hoping  that  he  would  finally  be  induced  to  ac- 
cede to  their  wishes.  The  only  objection  as  to  the 
position  has  been  from  Mr.  Moody  himself,  and  that 
was  based  upon  what  he  thought  to  be  want  of  prac- 
tical military  knowledge;  but  this,  on  the  part  of  his 
friends,  was  considered  as  fully  made  up  by  his  sound 
judgment  and  the  possession  of  a  heart  burning  with 
zeal  for  the  Union  cause,  and  brave  as  a  lion's  withal. 
Mr.  Moody  has  received  several  letters  from  Governor 
Dennison,  tendering  him  the  colonelcy  of  the  regi- 
ment, if  he  would  serve  in  that  capacity.  Mr.  Moody 
agreed  to  accept  the  position  on  condition  that  Major 
Alexander  Von  Schrader  would  act  as  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  regiment.  The  major  has  served  quite 
a  number  of  years  in  the  Prussian  service,  and  is  said 
to  be  an  accomplished  military  officer.  He  consented, 
on  condition  that  the  appointment  would  not  conflict 
with  the  wishes  of  the  regiment. 

In  regard  to  the  colonel,  we  would  add,  that  several 
of  his  friends  in  this  city  have  already  tendered  him 
his  complete  outfit  in  the  field.  .  .  .  Last  evening 
a  meeting  was  held  at  the  Armory,  on  Plum  Street. 
The  crowd  in  attendance  exceeded  in  numbers  and 
enthusiasm  any  which  we  have  witnessed  since  the 
early  days  of  the  war.  Speeches  were  warmly  re- 
ceived. Colonel  Moody  delivered  an  eloquent  address, 
which  was  responded  to  by  hearty  cheers.  He  invited 
volunteers  to  come  forward  and  engage  in  the  war,  the 
holiest  the  world  ever  knew.     .     .     . 

December  18,  1861,  was  a  great  day  in  Xenia. 
For  several  days  it  was  known  that  Colonel  Moody 
was  to  arrive  and  take  command  of  the  Seventy-fourth 
Regiment.  He  addressed  the  soldiers  and  citizens  in 
words  so  energetic,  impassioned,  and  patriotic,  that  it 
seemed  as  if  every  soul  was  stirred.     A  great  many 

29 


338  Granville  Moody. 

recruits  were  sworn  in  during  the  day,  and  circum- 
stances indicate  that  the  regiment  will  soon  be  full. 

APPROVAL    OF    THE    METHODIST    PREACHERS'    MEET- 
ING  OF   CINCINNATI. 

Cincinnati,  November  26,  1861. 

Rev.  Granville  Moody,  of  Morris  Chapel,  Cincinnati, 
having  been  advised  of  his  unanimous  election  as 
colonel  of  the  Seventy-fourth  Ohio  Regiment,  made  a 
statement  of  facts.  He  read  communications  from 
several  distinguished  gentlemen,  pertaining  to  the 
same,  and  desired  the  advice  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Preachers'  Association  in  Cincinnati  in  regard  to 
the  propriety  of  his  accepting  such  a  position,  as  a 
minister  of  the  gospel.  After  a  full  and  able  discus- 
sion of  the  subject,  the  following  resolution  was  unani- 
mously adopted: 

Resolved,  That  as  members  of  the  Preachers'  Asso- 
ciation of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Cincin- 
nati, we  are  of  the  opinion  that  Rev.  Granville  Moody 
has  a  providential  call  to  the  position  of  colonel  of 
the  Seventy-fourth  Ohio  Regiment,  and  cordially  ap- 
prove of  his  acceptance.  M.  Dustin,  President. 
George  Parrott,  Secretary.  . 

Adjutant-General's  Office,  \ 

Columbus,  Ohio,  April  19,  1862.  ) 

SPECIAL  ORDER,  No.  357. 

Colonel  Granville  Moody,  of  the  Seventy-fourth 
Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  is  hereby  detached  from  his  regi- 
ment, retaining  his  rank  and  relation  to  the  regiment, 
and  will  remain  in  command  of  Camp  Chase  and  the 
prisons  at  that  post.  He  may  detail  from  his  regiment 
the  following  named  persons  to  assist  him  in  the  dis- 
charge of  the  duties  assigned  him  :  viz.,  etc. 

David  Tod,  Governor. 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.    339 

The  State  of  Ohio,  Executive  Department,  \ 
Columbus,  April  19,  1862.         / 

Dear  Colonel,— The  earnest  personal  and  written 
appeals  which  you  have  made  to  accompany  your  reg- 
iment to  the  field  embarrass  me  greatly.  The  strong- 
personal  attachment  existing  between  yourself  and  the 
men  under  your  command,  the  expectation  and  desire 
of  the  relatives  and  immediate  friends  of  your  gallant 
troops,  and  the  extreme  pertinacity  with  which  you 
demand  it  as  a  right,  added  to  the  peculiar  fitness  for  the 
command,  all  tend  strongly  to  induce  me  to  yield  to 
your  request.  But  when  I  remember  that  we  have 
at  Camp  Chase  nearly  fifteen  hundred  prisoners  (and 
the  number  is  daily  increasing),  most  of  whom  are 
commissioned  officers,  with  but  a  slight  and  tempo- 
rary prison,  and  with  but  a  few  fragments  of  undrilled 
and  untried  troops  to  guard  them,  I  am  compelled  to 
deny  your  request. 

You  have  now  brought  the  responsible  and  deli- 
cate duty  of  safely  keeping,  and  humanely  treating 
these  prisoners  to  a  perfect  system,  which,  without 
your  personal  presence,  may  be  placed  in  jeopardy. 

In  addition  to  my  own  convictions  upon  this  sub- 
ject, I  learn,  from  a  dispatch  just  received  from  Gen- 
eral Buckingham,  now  at  Washington  City,  that  it  is 
the  wish  of  Secretary  Stanton  that  you  remain  in  com- 
mand at  Camp  Chase. 

For  these  reasons  I  feel  impelled  to  issue  the  in- 
closed order,  detaching  you  from  your  regiment,  and 
directing  that  you  send  it  to  the  field  under  command 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Von  Schrader.  When  in  my 
power,  consistent  with  duty,  to  permit  you  to  join 
your  regiment  in  the  field,  it  will  afford  me  infinite 
pleasure  to  do  so.     Very  respectfully  yours, 

David  Tod,  Governor. 
Colonel  Granvieee  Moody. 


34o  Granville  Moody. 

At  the  close  of  my  services  at  Camp  Chase,  I 
received  a  testimonial  from  the  rebel  prisoners, 
requesting  that  I  should  not  be  removed,  and  say- 
ing :  "  Should  Colonel  Moody,  at  any  time,  become 
a  prisoner  of  our  (Confederate)  government,  we 
hereby  earnestly  request  for  him  the  highest  con- 
sideration and  treatment,  as  a  proper  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  kindness  and  care  of  us,  as  prisoners 
of  war,  having  given  us  every  comfort,  liberty, 
and  indulgence  at  all  consistent  with  our  position 
and  with  his  obligations  as  commandant  of  this 
military  post." 


ice,      y 

24,  1862.  ) 


Head-quarters  Ohio  Militia, 
Adjutant-General's  Office 
Columbus,  June 
GENERAL  ORDER  No.  ri. 

At  his  own  request,  Colonel  Granville  Moody,  of 
the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  is  hereby  re- 
lieved from  the  command  of  Camp  Chase,  on  and  after 
twelve  o'clock  M.,  of  the  25th  instant,  and  ordered  to 
join  his  regiment. 

He  will  turn  over  his  present  command  at  the 
time  above-mentioned  to  Colonel  Charles  W.  B.  Al- 
lison, of  the  Eighty-fifth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  and  on 
or  before  the  second  day  of  July  next,  set  out  to  join 
his  regiment  for  duty  in  the  field.     By  order, 

Charles  W.  Hill,  Adjutant-General  of  Ohio. 

The  State  of  Ohio,  Executive  Department,  "> 
Columbus,  June  24,  1862.         / 

Colonel  Granville  Moody,  Seventy-fourth  Regiment,  O.V.  L: 

My  Dear  Sir, — The  time  has  at  last  arrived,  when 

I  can  respond  favorably  to  your  repeated  requests  to 

be  permitted  to  join  your  regiment.     Inclosed  I  send 

you  an  order  to  that  effect. 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.  341 

For  the  faithful,  energetic,  and  vigilant  manner  in 
which  you  have  discharged  the  various  delicate  and 
responsible  duties  incident  to  the  command  of  Camp 
Chase,  you  have  my  most  profound  thanks.  You  are 
now  about  to  proceed  to  a  new  field  of  duty,  and  let 
me  assure  you  that  you  carry  with  you  my  most  sin- 
cere wishes  for  equal  success  in  the  discharge  of  your 
new  responsibilities. 

I  can  hardly  expect  to  meet  you  again  until  after 
the  unholy  rebellion  is  put  down ;  and  whether  that 
meeting  be  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  may  we  each  be 
able  to  claim  for  himself,  before  the  all-seeing  eye  of 
the  God  of  battles,  that  he  has  faithfully  done  his  duty. 

It  is  a  sweet  reflection  to  me  to  know,  that  in  the 
varied  official  intercourse,  our  personal  relations  have 
ever  been  kind  and  confiding. 

With  my  kind  regards  to  Mrs.  Moody  and  your 
daughter,  I  am,     Very  truly  yours, 

David  Tod,  Governor. 

To  show  the  work  of  the  camp,  the  busy  life 
of  the  troops,  and  their  conduct  in  battle,  I  give 
the  following  letter  addressed  to  my  wife  and 
children.  It  was  written  from  the  camp  in  Mur- 
freesforo,  Tennessee,  the  head-quarters  of  the 
Seventy-fourth  Regiment  of  the  Ohio  Volunteer 
Infantry,  on  Monday,  January  5,  1863: 

By  the  good  hand  of  our  gracious  God,  I  am 
amongst  the  living  to  praise  him,  as  I  do  this  day, 
in  that,  in  answer  to  our  oft-repeated  family  prayer, 
he  has  "spread  his  shield's  protecting  blaze  when 
dangers  pressed  around  my  head." 

On  the  26th  of  December  we  left  Camp  Ham- 
ilton, seven  miles  south  of  Nashville,  and   com- 


342  Granville  Moody. 

menced  the  forward  movement  in  the  midst  of  a 
most  pitiless  and  drenching  rain,  which  lasted  all 
day ;  and  we  camped  at  night  on  Stewart's  Creek, 
in  what  we  called  "  Cedar  Lodge,"  a  wild  and 
desolate  place,  where  rocks  were  piled  and  lodged 
on  rocks,  and  ragged  cedars  rose  between.  We  soon 
raised  blazing  fires,  by  which  we  dried  our 
drenched  clothing,  and  thanked  God  for  ruddy 
flames  which  ministered  to  our  comfort  and  illu- 
mined the  otherwise  gloomy  surroundings  of  a  dark, 
drenching,  dreary  winter  night  of  the  last  days 
of  a  stormy  December  season.  We  got  a  well- 
cooked  supper  at  a  wealthy  widow's  house,  whose 
sympathies  were  with  the  Secesh.  She  said  to  us 
that  she  had  no  sympathy  with  us  "Northern 
Yanks "  at  all.  Her  squalid  negroes  sided  with 
the  outspoken  Secesh,  and  they  did  not  want  to  do 
anything  to  help  us  " Crusaders"  along.  But  I 
half  persuaded  this  secession  woman  to  furnish 
my  officers  with  a  comfortable  supper,  and  the  other 
half  by  the  suasion  of  stern  necessity.  We  had 
barely  time  to  eat  our  supper,  and  pay  her  fifty 
cents  each  for  the  same,  when  General  Negley  or- 
dered me  to  move  my  command  forward  to  his 
head-quarters  at  once.  We  had  to  start  at  eleven 
o'clock  that  night,  and  marched  by  moonlight 
over  a  dreary  road  three  miles  to  Nolensville,  and 
thence  two  miles  beyond,  and  bivouacked  in  the 
woods,  where  I  had  to  sleep  on  the  saturated 
ground,  with  my  head  to  a  stump,  and  my  com- 
mand all  around  me.  It  soon  commenced  to  rain 
in  torrents  ;  but  I  slept  away,  all  unconscious  of 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.  343 

the  drenching  rain  and  echoing  thunder  and  flash- 
ing lightning  peals,  and  rose  bedrenched,  in  the 
dark  and  lowering  morning  of  a  bloody  day. 

Our  forces  had  severe  engagements  during  all 
this  ill-omened  day  at  Nolensville  ;  but  the  rebels 
were  driven  out,  and  all  our  forces  possessed  it  at 
eventide.  When  I  and  my  force  passed  through  the 
place  it  was  a  doleful,  shattered-looking  locality — 
worse  than  Goldsmith's  "  Deserted  Village." 

Next  day,  Saturday  after  Christmas,  we  started 
for  the  Murfreesboro  pike,  and  marched  over  a 
desperately  bad  road.  We  formed  a  line  of  battle 
on  a  commanding  eminence,  and  waited  orders 
from  the  front,  whilst  our  thundering  and  flying 
artillery  ahead  was  pouring  .destruction  on  the 
rear  of  the  retreating  rebel  foes.  All  day  Satur- 
day our  forces  were  heralded  by  our  bellowing 
cannon,  and  our  foes  were  retreating  before  our 
advancing  columns.  At  sundown  we  encamped 
on  the  Nolensville  turnpike  to  keep  the  Sabbath- 
day  in  rest ;  and  again  I  slept  on  the  unsheltered, 
wet  ground,  with  a  blazing  fire  of  logs  at  our  feet, 
Indian  fashion,  with  our  horses  picketed  around. 
Sabbath  dawned  upon  us,  bright  and  cheering, 
and  I  was  in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's-day ;  and  in 
the  deep  recesses  of  my  soul  I  worshiped  the  Lord 
of  the  Sabbath,  singing  our  familiar  hymn  : 

"  Welcome,  sweet  day  of  rest, 
That  saw  the  Lord  arise." 

Really,  I  enjoyed  the  camping  on  the  Sab- 
bath. General  Rosecrans  is  a  God-fearing  man 
and  a  devout  Catholic  Christian — very  exemplary 


344  Granville  Moody. 

in  his  conduct.  He  keeps  a  priest  by  him  con- 
tinually— Father ,  as  he  calls  him.     At  four 

o'clock  every  morning  he  attends  high  mass.  Gen- 
eral Rosecrans  rested  his  army  on  the  Sabbath  ac- 
cording to  the  commandment,  and  bright  and  early 
the  entire  army  marched  on  Monday  morning  to 
the  grand  battle-ground,  and  encamped  within  half 
a  mile  of  the  great  Southern  army  of  over  sixty 
thousand  of  the  chivalry.  Our  camp  was  in  the 
edge  of  a  dense  and  gloomy  forest  of  heavy  cedar, 
whose  deep  shade  and  rocky  defiles  might  claim 
the  distinction  of  being  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  have  been  the  valley 
of  death  without  the  shadow. 

I  made  for  myself  a  bed  between  two  massive 
rocks,  about  eight  feet  long  and  four  feet  apart. 
I  cut  cedar  boughs,  and  laid  them  in  them  in  the 
bottom  three  feet  deep  for  a  bed.  I  piled  up  rocks, 
say  four  feet  high,  with  cedar  rails  for  a  bed-bot- 
tom, and  then  put  cedar  boughs  on  the  rails,  and 
thus  had  a  nice  bed,  with  a  wagon-cover  overhead  ; 
where  I  said  my  prayers,  and  slept  soundly  till 
eleven  o'clock  P.  M.  At  that  hour  a  staff  officer 
rode  up  to  my  regimental  guard-line,  and  my 
guard  halted  him.  "Halt!  Who  comes  there?" 
"  Friend,  with  the  countersign."  "  Advance,  one, 
with  the  countersign."  It  was  given  over  my 
guard's  extended  gun  and  bayonet.  "Where  is 
Colonel  Moody?"  "He  is  sleeping  in  his  den 
there;  right  in  front  of  you,  sir."  "Call  him;  I 
have  orders  for  him."  I  sprang  up ;  and  as  I  ap- 
peared, the  chief  of  staff  said:  "I  have  orders  for 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.  345 

you,  sir,  from  General  Thomas ;"  which  he  read 
to  me  in  a  low  tone,  by  the  light  of  his  lantern. 
"You  are  to  take  your  regiment,  sir,  to  the  front 
immediately,  taking  the  guard-line   now  held  by 

Colonel  .     General  Thomas  is  afraid  of  him, 

as  he  drinks  too  much  whisky  on  duty ;  and  the 
hour  is  full  of  peril.  Order  your  regiment  quietly 
and  quickly  under  arms,  and  I  will  go  ahead  and 

remove  Colonel ,  and  return,  and  conduct  you 

to  the  guard-line.  Execute  your  orders  by  your 
orderly  in  whispers,  and  order  him  to  do  the 
same."  I  replied:  "Ay,  ay,  sir."  He  departed, 
and  in  quickest  order  my  regiment  was  in  line. 
The  chief  soon  returned,  and  conducted  me  and 
my  regiment  silently  to  the  vacated  guard-line. 
He  detailed  also  to  my  command  two  full  parks 
of  artillery,  and  said:  "General  Thomas  expects 
your  utmost  vigilance  and  valor,  Colonel.  Good- 
night !" 

About  one  hour  later  the  enemy  advanced, 
and  we  opened  on  him  with  artillery  and  rifles, 
and  so  unexpected  was  our  readiness  that  the  en- 
gagement did  not  last  over  a  half  hour,  when 
the  rebels  withdrew  from  our  front  and  took  to 
their  left,  and  surprised  General  McCook's  com- 
mand and  routed  them  completely — and  thus  Stone 
River  battle  commenced. 

On  Wednesday  we  were  in  the  front  of  the 
rebel  lines  commanded  by  General  Withers,  em- 
bracing the  Rock  City  Guards  and  other  rebel  regi- 
ments, containing  the  very  flower  of  the  Southern 
chivalry.     We   did  our  whole  duty  during   these 


346  Granville  Moody. 

bloody  scenes  of  war.  My  pen  falters  in  the  por- 
trayal of  the  awful  events  which  then  took  place. 
Fire,  blood,  carnage,  groans,  shrieks,  agonies,  and 
death  in  horrid  forms  followed.  By  God's  all- 
comprehending  providence  I  was  saved  amid  these 
exciting  and  appalling  scenes.  I  was  wounded 
in  the  calf  of  my  right  leg.  A  ball  tore  through 
the  clothing  of  my  left  leg  at  the  knee. 

Being  ordered  to  advance  on  the  foe  firing,  I 
changed  the  position  of  my  pistol  from  its  position 
at  my  right  shoulder,  and  suspended  it  over  my 
right  breast,  so  as  to  have  it  handy  at  my  front  for 
use,  as  we  advanced  on  our  foes,  and  met  the  wild 
whirl  and  storm  of  bullets  that  our  foes  hurled  on 
us  in  that  perilous  hour.  A  bullet  or  bullets 
struck  me  in  my  right  breast  with  awful  force,  and 
nearly  unseated  me  from  my  saddle.  I  put  my 
hand  to  my  breast,  which  was  writhing  with  a 
stinging  sensation,  and  found  that  my  pistol  was 
shattered  by  the  shots ;  the  ramrod  was  broken 
off,  and  the  handle,  some  five  inches  to  the  right, 
was  shattered  in  fragments.  Thus  my  pistol, 
which  I  had  just  changed  from  rear  to  front,  re- 
ceived the  two  bullets  from  the  rebel  rifles,  and 
saved  my  life  from  swift  destruction. 

The  shattered  pistol  lies  before  me  while  I  pen 
this  paragraph,  a  mute  witness  of  God's  protect- 
ing providence,  God's  chosen  shield  for  my  im- 
periled life.  Had  I  not  removed  that  pistol  from 
my  shoulder  to  my  breast,  I  should  have  been 
shot  through  by  two  rebel  bullets. 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.  347 

"  God  guards  my  soul,  he  keeps  my  breath, 
Where  thickest  dangers  come  ; 
Go  and  return,  secure  from  death, 
Till  God  sua  1  call  thee  home." 

My  horse  was  shot  under  me ;  three  balls  en- 
tering him  at  once,  which  were  doubtless  aimed 
at  me.  One  ball  struck  his  lower  jaw,  just  where 
his  bridle-bits  work ;  one  ball  struck  him  in  the 
shoulder,  about  two  inches  from  the  bend  of 
my  knee.  One  ball  struck  him  two  inches  back 
of  the  root  of  his  ear.  O,  what  terrible  scenes 
were  all  around  me !  The  dead  and  wounded  and 
dying  were  in  every  direction.  It  was,  indeed,  a 
storm  of  death. 

In  the  afternoon's  battle  I  received  a  severe 
shot  through  the  breast  of  my  coat,  grazing  and 
glancing  along  my  breast.  I  received  an  order  to 
lead  my  Seventy-fourth  men  on  the  outer  picket- 
lines  within  four  hundred  yards  of  the  lines  of  the 
enemy.  Out  we  went,  took  position,  detailed 
Companies  A  and  B  as  skirmish,  and  sent  them 
two  hundred  yards  in  advance  of  us.  They  took 
intervals  of  five  paces  from  man  to  man,  and  the 
other  eight  companies  stacked  arms,  wrapped 
themselves  in  their  blankets,  and  lay  down  by 
their  rifles.  The  night  passed  quietly,  only  a  few 
guns  being  fired  on  both  sides.  At  dawn  of  day, 
we  opened  on  the  foe,  with  musketry  and  artillery 
for  thirty  minutes;  but  they  made  but  little  re- 
sponse. Yet  the  Seventy-fourth  O.  V.  I.  opened 
the  great  battle.  We  were  relieved  by  the  Thirty- 
seventh  Indiana  V.  I.,  and  retired  to  our  camp  for 


348  Granville  Moody. 

breakfast.  Our  baggage-wagons  were  attacked 
and  driven  back,  so  that  we  had  no  tents  or  cook- 
ing-utensils, and  with  but  little  or  nothing  to  eat — 
only  hard  crackers  and  middling-meat,  called,  in 
army  parlance,  "  Hard-tack  and  sow-belly." 

But  the  enemy  gave  way  before  the  steady 
valor  of  our  troops.  Onward  rolled  the  tide  of 
war.  We  drove  them  over  Stone  River,  in  confu- 
sion worse  confounded,  up  the  wooded  hill,  into 
the  field  beyond ;  out  of  this  field  into  the  dense 
woods  beyond.  We  captured  six  cannon.  The 
Seventy-fourth  men  hauled  two  pieces  of  artillery 
by  hand  off  to  our  camp.  General  Rosecrans, 
General  Negley,  and  Colonel  John  F.  Miller  passed 
the  highest  compliments  on  me  personally.  Gen- 
eral Rosecrans  said  to  our  regiment  that  he  must 
call  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment  "  the  fighting 
regiment." 

My  baggage  is  back  in  Nashville.  I  have  not 
had  a  change  of  garments  since  Christmas,  nor 
have  I  had  my  boots  and  spurs  off  since  then. 
A  change  of  linen  would  prove  a  luxury  indeed. 
I  have  lost  three  horses,  and  my  fine  overcoat  that 
cost  me  sixty  dollars.  I  have  lost  one  of  the  splendid 
pair  of  pistols  presented  to  me  by  Judge  Bellamy 
Storer,  on  entering  the  army,  with  my  costly  cover- 
let and  blankets.  I  have  no  change  of  clothing 
left,  and  the  balls  tore  my  clothing  so  that  the 
officers  at  large  and  the  men  call  me  the  "  Ragged 
Colonel." 

The  enemy  left  the  entire  field  of  Stone  River 
last  Sunday  morning  by  early  daylight,  and  have 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.  349 

left  us  in  possession  of  every  thing.     Thanks  be  to 
God! 

The  following  letter  from  the  front  was  ad- 
dressed to  the  Book  Agents  at  Cincinnati.  It  con- 
tains some  more  of  the  author's  experience  while 
in  the  field.  It  was  dated  at  Murfreesboro,  April 
27,  1863: 

Yesterday  (Sabbath)  I  was  detailed  as  "  Corps 
Field-officer  of  the  Day "  for  the  Fourteenth 
Army  Corps,  under  command  of  Major-General 
Thomas.  This  corps  embraces  the  divisions  un- 
der command  of  Generals  Negley,  Rousseau,  and 
Reynolds,  making  the  three  fronts  of  our  picket- 
lines  ;  namely,  the  south-east,  east,  and  north-east 
front.  This  line  is  occupied  by  some  fifteen  hun- 
dred men  on  guard  and  picket  duty,  in  three 
lines;  namely:  1.  The  stations,  or  main  reserves; 
2.  The  outposts  of  guards,  being  three  to  each 
station ;  3.  The  sentinels  on  the  outer  lines  of  in- 
fantry guard,  on  their  beats.  Beyond  these  lines 
we  have  the  videttes,  and  beyond  these  a  line  of 
cavalry  guards  and  scouts. 

My  duty  yesterday  was  to  visit  these  lines,  in- 
spect, suggest,  direct,  etc.  Well,  I  did  it,  and 
preached  ten  sermons  during  the  day — nine  at 
the  stations  aforesaid,  and  one  at  the  Grand  Re- 
serve on  the  center,  where  we  have  a  concealed 
battery  and  support  of  fifty  men. 

After  attending  to  all  my  duties  of  a  military 
character,  I  said  to  the  officers  and  men  at  the 
stations,  as  they  stood  drawn  up  in  line,  that  I 
had   some  orders   from    the   head-quarters   of  the 


350  Granville  Moody. 

King  Immortal,  Eternal,  and  Invisible,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  declare  to  them  the  gospel  of  the  grace 
of  God,  "teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  were  commanded  "  by  the  Captain  of 
our  salvation.  In  this  way  I  had  the  opportunity 
of  preaching  to  hundreds  of  my  fellow-sinners,  citi- 
zens, and  soldiers,  and  I  assure  you  I  found  great 
delight  in  this  work  of  faith  and  labor  of  love, 
which  I  pursue  with  the  patience  of  hope.  It 
seemed  like  the  old  circuit  preaching  that  we  were 
accustomed  to  in  the  olden  time.  You  may  ask 
Dr.  Kingsley*  whether  any  of  the  preachers  in 
the  range  of  the  Western  Christian  Advocate  have 
done  as  much  preaching  as  that  in  one  Sabbath. 
Last  Sabbath  week,  I  preached  twice  in  the  morn- 
ing to  the  Pioneer  Brigade,  and  in  the  evening  to 
the  Pontoniers,  and  I  hope  with  profit. 

You  can  tell  old  friends  that  I  am  preaching  as 
much,  or  more,  since  I  came  into  the  army,  as  I 
did  before  I  entered  it,  and  the  flame  of  love  to 
God  and  man  burns  brightly  on  the  altar  of  my 
heart ;  and  should  my  life  be  demanded  in  the  holy 
cause  of  my  country,  I  shall  rejoice  to  fall  in  so 
good  a  cause,  believing  that, 

"Whether  upon  the  gallows  high, 
Or  in  the  battle's  van, 
The  fittest  place  for  man  to  die 
Is  where  he  dies  for  man." 


*Dr.  Calvin  Kingsley  was  at  this  time  editor  of  the  West- 
ern Christian  Advocate.  In  1864  he  was  elected  and  ordained 
one  of  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
died  at  Beyrout,  Syria,  April  6,  1870,  while  on  an  episcopal 
tour  round  the  world.— Editor. 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment. 


35i 


I  have  just  promised  to  preach  the  Fast-day 
sermon  in  this  place,  Murfreesboro,  next  Thurs- 
day, and  I  trust  that  God  will  accept  the  sacrifice 
and  hear  and  answer  our  prayers. 


On  Wednesday,  during  the  battle  of  Stone 
River,  we  met  with  reverses  on  every  side.  My 
regiment  was  discomfited  and  scattered.  I  was 
endeavoring  to  rally  them.  As  I  went  over  a 
vacant  field  I  overtook  six  of  my  men  with  a 
first  lieutenant  fleeing  toward  Nashville.  I  cried 
out:  "Hello,  men,  there  is  your  regiment  to  the 
left.  Rally  to  your  regiment!"  But  they  were 
intent  on  escape,  and  kept  right  on.  I  rode  past 
and  turned,  facing  them,  and  presenting  my  pistol, 
cried:  "Halt!"  I  threatened  a  pistol-ball  to  the 
man  that  took  another  step  toward  Nashville. 
The  officer  said:  "Colonel,  we  are  dazed,  and 
don't  know  what  we  are  doing.  If  we  will  at 
once  return  to  duty,  will  you  report  us?"  I  in- 
stantly lowered  my  pistol  and  assured  them  that 
no  man  should  hear  from  me.  The  lieutenant 
shouted:  "Three  cheers  for  Colonel  Moody!" 
They  were  given,  and  the  men  joined  their  regi- 
ment. I  rode  on  in  search  of  further  squads,  and 
as  I  neared  a  wooded  region,  a  company  of  nine 
or  ten  "gray-backs"  sprang  out  of  the  woods  and 
opened  fire  upon  me.  Soon  six  more  joined  them 
and  commenced  firing.  My  horse  was  soon  crip- 
pled, stopped  short,  and  stood  still.  I  applied  the 
spurs,  he  trembled  and  shrunk,  and  fell  in  agony 
to  the  ground,  dead.     I  disentangled  myself  from 


352  Granville  Moody. 

him,  dislodged  my  two  pistols  from  the  holsters, 
and  began  my  retreat  from  the  men  who  were  firing 
at  me.  But  in  the  morning  I  had  received  a 
bullet  wound  in  my  right  leg  below  the  knee,  and 
I  had  to  limp  away  from  the  firing  of  ten  or 
twelve  men. 

Just  as  the  firing  became  rapid,  and  the  bullets 
were  singing  wildly  around  my  head  and  person, 
a  horseman  rushed  up  between  me  and  those  firing 
upon  me,  and  dismounting  from  his  steed  shouted: 
"Here  Colonel,  get  into  the  saddle  and  get  away 
quick."  I  attempted  to  mount  the  horse,  but  failed. 
My  right  leg  that  was  wounded  was  so  stiff  that  it 
would  not  straighten  out  to  the  stirrup  by  about 
three  inches.  I  said:  " Comrade,  get  into  the 
saddle  yourself,  and  let  me  take  my  chances." 

"Divil  a  bit;  try  again,  Colonel.  Try  again, 
man,  or  the  divils  will  get  you,  sure." 

I  tried  again,  and  Patrick  almost  lifted  me  into 
the  saddle,  and  amidst  the  "zipping"  bullets, 
which  came  thick  and  fast,  I  strode  the  saddle, 
and  without  waiting  to  find  the  stirrups  I  started 
for  our  lines.  Patrick  nearly  kept  pace  with  my 
frenzied,  flying  steed,  and  as  we  approached  our 
line  of  men,  they  gave  vent  to  their  pent-up  feelings, 
and  shouted:  "Hurrah!  Bravo!  Colonel,  are 
you  hit  anywhere?"  I  said:  "  No,  I  am  through 
safe,  thank  God  and  Patrick,  and  a  good  horse." 

"Surely,"  said  Patrick,  "the  odds  were  terribly 
against  us,  Colonel ;  and  it  kept  Providence  and 
meself  very  busy,  all  the  time  of  the  fracas,  to 
save  us ;  it  did  so,  Colonel." 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.  353 

At  this  apt  speech  the  crowding  men  shouted 
out:  "Good!  good!  Three  cheers  for  Providence 
and  Paddy,  and  three  cheers  for  our  colonel !" 
Poor  Patrick  was  killed  that  same  afternoon  in  the 
engagement  that  followed. 

A  rebel  colonel  was  shot,  and  fell  from  his 
horse,  which  ran  wildly,  with  the  empty  saddle, 
and  Patrick  had  caught  him,  and  mounting,  rode 
down  to  me  in  a  gallop,  just  in  time  to  save  me. 
As  Jonathan  said  to  his  armor-bearer:  "There  is 
no  restraint  to  the  Lord,  to  save  by  many  or  by 
few."  The  next  day  I  went  and  got  my  saddle, 
bridle,  and  blanket,  from  my  dead  horse.  Poor 
fellow !  he  had  gathered  himself  up  gracefully  in 
death,  and  died  a  warrior's  death. 

My  clothes  were  pierced  with  holes,  though  not 
a  ball  touched  my  person  on  this  occasion.  My 
coat-front  was  torn  as  if  a  tiger  had  clawed 
me.  It  was  on  this  account  and  at  this  time 
that  my  regiment  nicknamed  me  the  "  Ragged 
Colonel." 

During  our  occupancy  of  Nashville  we  ex- 
pected an  assault  from  General  Bragg.  I  was 
directed  to  have  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment 
excavate  the  road  leading  into  Nashville,  to  the 
depth  of  six  or  eight  feet ;  then  to  plant  lines  of 
slender  posts  along  the  route,  on  which  we  were 
to  lay  a  frail  platform,  covered  with  earth,  as  a 
kind  of  "dead-fall"  for  the  enemy.  Our  regiment 
was  aligned  along  this  causeway  of  death.  One 
morning  I  received  orders  to  send  out  my  train 
of  thirteen  six-mule  wagons,  to  bring  in  as  many 

30 


354  Granville  Moody. 

loads  of  old  cedar  rails  to  use  in  constructing  this 
causeway.  Four  companies  of  soldiers,  each  with 
forty  rounds  of  ammunition,  accompanied  the 
wagon-train  as  guards.  They  returned  at  noon, 
heavily  loaded  with  rails.  They  aligned  in  front 
of  my  head-quarters  for  the  dinner  hour.  I  had 
been  very  busy  all  the  morning  in  camp-duties, 
and  was  en  dishabille,  sitting  in  front  of  my  tent, 
waiting  the  call  to  dinner. 

A  gentleman,  of  military  make-up  and  sol- 
dierly mien,  rode  up  hastily,  and  reined  in  a  mag- 
nificent courser  of  high  blood.  He  addressed  me 
very  politely,  saying:  "Will  you  inform  me,  sir, 
where  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment  is  encamped, 
and  where  I  will  find  Colonel  Moody?  Do  you 
know  this  officer,  my  man  ?" 

I  saw  that  my  courtly  querist  never  suspected 
that  I  was  the  colonel,  and  I  replied :  "  The  Sev- 
enty-fourth Regiment  is  all  around  you,  sir;  and 
these  are  Colonel  Moody's  head-quarters." 

"  Ah  !  thank  you,  my  man ;  where  can  I  find 
Colonel  Moody?     Do  you  know  him?" 

I  said  in  reply :  "  I  can  't  say  that  I  know  Col- 
onel Moody  or  any  other  man,  but  I  guess  you 
might  as  well  dismount.  You  are  about  as  near 
him  as  is  needful ;  and,  as  it  is  just  dinner-hour, 
please  dismount  and  take  dinner  with  Colonel 
Moody.     You  are  quite  welcome,  sir." 

"  Why,  sir,  my  business  is  with  Colonel  Moody." 

"Well,  sir,"  I  replied,  "this  man  answers  to 
that  name.     Dismount,  sir,  dismount." 

He  was  quickly  on  his  feet,  and  removing  his 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.     355 

hat,  said:  "This  is  Colonel  Moody,  then!  I,  sir, 
am  Major  Lewis,  private  secretary  of  the  late 
General  Andrew  Jackson,  and  his  chief  of  staff  in 
the  Seminole  War.  I  am  of  his  school  of  politics, 
and  identified  in  spirit  and  action  with  the  United 
States  of  North  America  against  her  every  foe, 
and  hold  myself  and  all  that  I  have  as  subservient 
to  her  national  rights  and  dignity.  I  have  lived 
on  my  farm  in  this  vicinity  where  the  armies  of 
the  Union  and  of  the  Rebellion  have  alternated 
their  rights,  and  I  have  always  vindicated  the 
United  States  in  her  supremacy  over  all  these 
lands ;  and  if  I  or  the  last  shreds  of  my  property 
can  subserve  the  United  States,  I  stand  ready  to 
cast  myself  and  my  means  into  the  scale  of  the 
Union,  the  whole  Union,  and  nothing  but  the 
Union  of  the  States  in  one  nationality.  And 
now,  sir,  having  been  reduced  by  the  ravages  of 
this  Rebellion  to  the  actual  possession  of  but  thirty 
acres  of  a  large  domain ;  and  depending  on  those 
few  acres  for  quarters  for  myself,  provender  for 
my  horse,  and  a  home  for  a  favorite  cow,  your 
men,  this  morning,  despoiled  my  household,  dis- 
mantled my  fencing,  and  there  on  your  wagons 
are  thousands  of  my  rails,  the  removal  of  which 
has  turned  me  out  on  the  world,  helpless,  an  old  man 
who  has  served  this  Republic  through  lengthened 
years,  and  whose  last  wishes  are  for  the  success 
of  the  cause  of  our  common  nationality." 

He  assumed  silence,  exhibited  dignity,  and 
avowed  patriotism,  and  awaited  my  response. 

"Well,  Major,"  said  I,  "you  have  been  badly 


356  Granville  Moody. 

used,  indeed.  My  men  were  ignorant  of  your  his- 
tory, as  I  was  myself.  Let  us  sit  down  and  eat 
dinner,  and  we  will  both  feel  better  after  we 
get  our  rations.  Here,  Orderly,  take  this  horse 
to  quarters,  and  feed  him  corn  or  oats,  as  Major 
Lewis  prefers." 

I  had  a  brief  interview  with  the  officer  who 
had  charge  of  the  wagon-train,  and  gave  him  or- 
ders to  return  the  rails,  and  have  the  same  force 
of  men  rebuild  the  fence  under  the  direction  of 
Major  Lewis,  and  then  proceed  forthwith  and 
get  loads  of  regular  Secesh  rails,  and  return  by 
supper-time. 

After  dinner  I  introduced  him  to  the  officer, 
and  told  the  men  his  story,  and  they  gave  three 
cheers  and  a  tiger  for  Major  Lewis,  and  three  times 
three  for  "Old  Hickory."  I  appointed  Major 
Lewis  commander-in-chief  for  that  afternoon,  and 
they  departed  with  good-will  on  this  labor  of  love 
for  a  patriot.  The  result  was  that  the  premises 
were  better  fenced  than  ever  before,  and  a  lasting 
friendship  established  between  myself   and   him. 

Some  months  after  this  occurrence  I  was  or- 
dered into  the  neighborhood  of  Major  Lewis  with 
my  regiment,  to  act  as  a  pioneer  force.  He 
learned  of  my  proximity,  and  came  and  met  me 
most  cordially,  and  said :  "  Colonel,  I  have  the 
best  camping-ground  in  this  vicinity  in  front  of 
my  residence.  You  are  welcome  to  it  for  your 
regiment."  His  mansion  was  situated  about  eighty 
rods  south  of  the  road,  and  leading  to  it  was  a 
broad  drive  sixty  feet  in  width,  and  lined  on  either 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.     357 

side  with  a  row  of  majestic  trees  from  twenty 
inches  to  three  feet  in  diameter,  and  four  rods 
apart.  On  either  side  was  a  beautiful,  verdant 
lawn  of  blue-grass.  The  major,  old  soldier  that 
he  was,  said : 

"  You  see,  Colonel,  you  can  place  five  compa- 
nies on  each  side,  with  your  quartermaster's  tent 
on  one  side  and  your  surgeon's  tent  on  the  other, 
and  your  head-quarters  in  the  middle  of  the  two 
lines,  facing  the  front  gate.  As  the  ground  rises 
from  the  gate  you  will  be  in  ship-shape  for  drill  or 
for  action  in  the  event  of  attack.  You,  sir,  are  my 
guest  during  the  continuance  of  this  duty." 

I  saw  the  advantages  of  the  situation,  and  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  with  but  one  exception, 
viz.,  that  I  must  occupy  my  own  tent  with  the 
soldiers,  so  as  to  be  accessible  to  them,  and 
convenient  of  communication  with  them  in  all 
emergencies.  A  commander  should  always  be 
with  his  men.  This  camp  was  like  an  oasis  in 
the  desert. 

Coming  in  from  drill  one  morning,  hungry  to 
breakfast,  a  tired  Seventy-fourth  boy  asked  of 
another  if  he  believed  the  colonel  was  a  Christian. 
" Christian,  hell!"  said  the  other.  "Do  you  sup- 
pose any  man  is  a  Christian  that  will  get  a  fellow 
out  to  drill  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning?" 

While  my  regiment  was  encamped  on  College 
Hill,  Nashville,  Tennessee,  a  lady  was  driven  to  my 
head-quarters  in  a  splendid  two-horse  carriage,  and 
beckoning  me  to  her  side,  handed  me  a  letter  signed 
by   Major-General   Buell,    stating  that   Mrs.  


358  Granville  Moody. 

had  lost  her  "servant,"  and  learning  that  he  had 
been  seen  in  the  camp  of  the  Seventy-fourth  Regi- 
ment, she  wanted  the  privilege  of  searching  my 
camp  for  his  recovery,  and  "you  will  render  her 
every  facility  in  searching  for  the  recovery  of  her 
servants."  As  she  presented  the  document,  she 
remarked  blandly  that  it  was  from  Major-General 
Buell.  I  answered:  "  I  see  it  is,  madam  !  I  respect 
General  Buell's  authority,  but  my  business  here  is 
to  aid  in  putting  down  this  rebellion  against  the 
United  States  Government — a  rebellion  instigated 
by  slaveholders.  I  recognize  the  general's  author- 
ity, and  you  are  at  liberty  to  search  the  camp  ; 
but  I  can  not  assist  you  in  this  enterprise,  and  I 
must  be  excused  from  aiding  in  the  recovery 
of  fugitives  from  enslavement.  Good  morning, 
madam."  "  I  '11  report  you  to  General  Buell,"  said 
she,  and  a  thousand  furies  flashed  indignant  hate 
from  her  black  eyes  as  she  ordered  her  coachman 
to  return  to  Nashville.  Meanwhile,  her  slave,  who 
was  within  a  few  feet  of  her,  secreted  himself 
and  escaped  discovery;  but  I  was  ignorant  of  his 
whereabouts. 

Within  a  short  time  after  the  above  incident 
had  occurred — indeed,  it  was  the  next  day — I  re- 
ceived orders  from  General  Buell  to  start  for 
Franklin,  twenty-three  miles  south  of  Nashville. 
The  surgeon-general  of  Buell's  army  came  over 
to  my  camp  and  introduced  himself,  and  said : 
"  Colonel,  I  have  heard  of  your  being  ordered  to 
Franklin,  that  hot-hole  of  secessionists,  and  I 
came  over  to  bring  you    a  few  articles    from   our 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.    359 

surgeon's  office,  which  I  wish  you  to  use  promptly 
in  case  of  sickness  or  wounds.  I  have  among  the 
articles  a  bottle  of  pure  brandy,  which  may  come 
promptly  in  demand  in  dangerous  cases  where  a 
reliable  stimulant  is  needed.  Now,  not  one  word 
of  your  temperance  vocabulary  !  I  order  you  to 
put  this  in  your  trunk,  and  use  it  strictly  as  a 
medicine.     Farewell,  and  mind  my  prescription." 

As  we  were  passing  through  Nashville  on  one 
of  the  principal  streets,  a  lady,  the  postmaster's 
wife,  ran  out  to  me  as  I  was  riding  at  the  head  of 
my  regiment,  and  presenting  me  with  a  tidy 
lunch-basket,  covered  with  a  towel,  said:  "  I  heard 
of  your  order  to  go  to  Franklin,  and  I  have  gotten 
you  up  a  nice  dinner  for  to-day.  Good-bye." 
The  day  was  very  sultry  ;  it  was  a  toilsome  march. 
All  day  my  son  William  exchanged  his  saddle  with 
the  weariest  of  the  soldiers,  so  that  he  was  on 
foot  nearly  all  that  day,  preferring  to  aid  the  in- 
firm or  older  men,  rather  than  ride  himself. 

By  sunset  we  arrived  within  sight  of  Franklin, 
and  I  exhorted  officers  a'nd  men  to  rally,  and  let 
the  rebels  see  them  firm  and  agile  as  we  marched 
through  the  town  to  a  noted  grove,  a  little  toward 
the  south.  I  ordered  the  band  to  strike  up  "  Yankee 
Doodle,"  and  to  repeat  it  till  we  reached  the  grove. 

Supper  being  ready,  I  called  "  Willy,"  and  then 
changed  the  call  to  "  Lieutenant  Moody,"  but  there 
was  no  voice,  nor  any  that  answered.  He  was 
seen  last  just  as  the  regiment  broke  ranks.  On 
search,  I  found  him  at  the  foot  of  a  large  tree,  al- 
most breathless  and  entirely  speechless.     I  called 


360  Granville  Moody. 

six  soldiers  who  carried  him  to  my  tent,  and  the 
men  began  to  rub  him  with  their  hands.  I  thought 
of  my  bottle  of  brandy ;  went  to  my  trunk  and 
pulled  out  the  contents,  scattered  them  hither  and 
yon,  till  I  found  it.  I  administered  it  repeatedly ; 
his  lower  jaw,  which  had  hung  down,  closed  up,  and 
he  opened  his  beautiful  eyes,  and  feebly  articulated, 
"  Father,"  and  I  knew  his  life  was  spared.  He 
revived  rapidly,  and  asked  for  something  to  eat. 
I  then  thought  of  the  untouched  basket,  and  there 
I  found  a  fine  roasted  chicken,  light  rolls,  butter 
and  preserves — in  short,  a  dainty  meal. 

The  next  morning  I  went  in  company  with 
Judge  Mills,  of  Yellow  Springs,  Ohio,  up  to  Frank- 
lin, and  we  selected  the  spacious  court-house  for 
head-quarters.  We  had  left  our  two  horses  near 
the  river,  and  had,  for  the  time  being,  forgotten 
them.  As  I  came  out  of  the  gate  of  the  court- 
house, I  saw  a  man  riding  a  fine  black  horse  in  a 
swift  gallop  approaching  us.  A  single  look  con- 
vinced me  that  the  horse  was  my  own.  The 
rider  was  mercilessly  striking  him  on  the  flanks. 
I  resolved  to  recover  him,  and  running  at  right 
angles  to  his  course,  I  met  the  frantic  horse  at 
full  speed,  caught  his  bridle,  and  was  dragged 
along  for  some  distance.  I  reached  up  and  caught 
the  freebooter  by  the  throat,  and  hurled  him  to 
the  ground.  Judge  Mills  rushed  up  and  held  the 
horse,  while  I  took  after  the  thief,  who  ran  on  his 
hands  and  feet  faster  than  I  could  go  as  a  biped. 
I  pelted  him  with  stones,  but  with  his  tremendous 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.  361 

exertion  he   got   away ;    and  now   my   horse  was 
doubly  dear. 

I  found  a  good  boarding-place  in  the  center  of 
town.  The  oldest  lawyer  in  the  place  advised  the 
people  to  treat  me  kindly,  and  they  would  all 
like  me.  "  Did  you  see  his  first  military  order  for 
Franklin,  and  note  his  signature  ?  The  first  and 
last  letters  of  his  signature  mean  decision.  We 
had  better  be  quiet;  for  no  man  who  writes  so 
plainly  and  definitely  ever  lacks  in  decision.  Do 
what  is  right  with  him  and  his,  and  we  will  have 
peace." 

When  General  Buell  retreated  to  Louisville,  I 
returned  with  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment  to 
Nashville.  The  rebel  engineer  hauled  us  from 
Franklin  four  miles,  and  then  detached  his  engine 
from  our  train,  leaving  us  in  a  favorable  place  for 
Forrest's  cavalry  to  attack  us.  But  Forrest  failed 
to  come  to  time,  though  in  the  vicinity,  and  by  a 
special  messenger  I  got  another  engine,  and  re- 
treated successfully  to  Nashville.  I  had,  how- 
ever, to  secure  the  loyalty  of  the  engineer  by  a 
pistol,  which  covered  him  till  we  were  safe  in 
the  city. 

Colonel  George  V.  Moody,  my  brother,  was  a 
rebel  officer.  He  was  of  the  same  height  as  my- 
self, and  resembled  me.  We  met  twice  during 
the  war  ;  each  time  I  visited  him  in  prison.  He 
commanded  a  battery  at  Gettysburg.  He  was  in 
charge  of  the  train  of  wagons  when  Jeff  Davis 
was   captured.     He  was   taken   to  Ft.  McHenry, 

31 


362  Granville  Moody. 

near  Baltimore,  and  put  in  a  dungeon.  While 
there,  he  bribed  a  guard,  and  got  him  to  draw  a 
bullet  from  his  musket,  and  placed  under  it  a  letter, 
which  he  had  written  to  me.  The  guard  was  not 
discovered,  and  I  received  the  powder-blackened 
billet  while  making  a  political  speech  in  Ohio. 
It  ran  thus  : 

Dear  Brother, — I  am  in  the  dungeon  at  Fort 
McHenry,  unjustly  imprisoned.  See  the  President,  and 
gain  a  private  interview  with  me,  if  possible. 

Yours,  G.  V.  Moody. 

I  went  to  President  Johnson,  got  permission, 
and  went  to  Baltimore,  saw  my  brother,  returned, 
and  laid  the  case  before  the  President,  who  ordered 
the  release  of  my  rebel  brother,  making  me  his 
keeper.  I  persuaded  him  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  and  he  went  home  to  Mississippi,  where 
he  practiced  law.  In  a  law-suit  some  allusion 
was  made  to  the  war,  when  he  retorted:  uIf  so 
many  of  you  had  n't  been  afflicted  with  sore  heels 
when  we  came  home  to  recruit,  the  war  might 
have  resulted  very  differently."  The  opposing 
attorney  took  mortal  offense  at  this,  and  my 
brother  was  found  shot  at  his  desk,  and  the  mur- 
derer remains  to  this  day  unhung. 

Though  military  duties  took  up  the  greater 
part  of  the  author's  time,  they  did  not  suspend 
his  ministerial  functions.  He  assisted  the  chap- 
lain of  the  regiment  in  his  services  on  Sunday, 
and,  as  already  stated,  often  preached.  While  we 
were  encamped  near  Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  I  re- 
ceived a  note  from  the  first  section  of  the  Pontoon 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.         363 

Train,  Pioneer   Brigade,  dated  April  17,  1868,  as 

follows : 

To  Coi,onei.  Moody,  Seventy-fourth  O.  V.  I. : 

Dear  Sir, — We,  the  officers  and  soldiers  belong- 
ing to  the  first  section,  Pontoon  Train,  desiring  as 
we  do  religious  instruction,  and  knowing  your  worth 
as  a  soldier  and  your  zeal  as  a  Christian,  do  respectfully 
request  you,  if  agreeable  and  convenient,  to  address 
us  on  next  Sabbath  evening  at  seven  o'clock,  at  which 
time  we  promise  to  give  you  our  undivided  attention. 

With  highest  respect,  I  am  your  obedient  servant, 

E.  Gleason, 
lieutenant  Commanding  Section. 

It  may  be  readily  inferred  that  this  request 
was  complied  with,  and  that  those  who  were  pres- 
ent paid  "  undivided  attention.'' 

Before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  a  colonel 
in  the  army,  the  author  of  this  Retrospect  had  no 
acquaintance  whatever  with  practical  military  life. 
He  was  thus  compelled  to  begin  with  the  begin- 
ning of  the  details  connected  with  camp  and  field 
service,  and  it  afforded  him  a  satisfaction  to  know 
that  he  did  not  discredit  his  position.  The  fol- 
lowing notice,  from  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  gives 
a  hint  as  to  his  readiness  while  at  Camp  Chase,  to 
join  his  regiment  at  the  front.  The  extract  is 
dated  June  10,  1862  : 

Colonel  Granville  Moody,  ever  prompt  and  ready 
for  any  emergency,  is  increasing  in  his  energies  in 
comfortably  providing  for  the  wants  of  the  soldier. 
The  troops  are  clothed,  armed,  and  equipped,  accord- 
ing to  law,  as  fast  as  they  arrive  at  camp.  Saturday 
last    was    a    day  long    to    be   remembered  at    Camp 


364  Granville  Moody. 

Chase.  On  that  occasion  a  long  flag-staff  was  raised, 
one  hundred  and  five  feet  high,  and  from  the  top  floated 
that  standard  sheet,  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  of  huge  pro- 
portions, forty-two  feet  long  and  twenty-seven  feet 
wide,  which  was  elevated  to  its  position  by  the  hands 
of  Governor  Brough  and  Ex-Governor  Dennison, 
amidst  the  shouts  of  thousands. 

After  the  speaking,  Colonel  Moody,  of  the  Seventy- 
fourth,  mounted  on  his  fine  black  charger,  marched 
the  battalions  out  to  the  parade-ground,  and  there 
drilled  them  through  two-thirds  of  Hardee,  like  one 
perfectly  familiar  with  all  the  military  tactics,  to  the 
great  credit  of  himself  and  soldiery.  The  colonel  has 
greatly  improved  himself  in  military  knowledge  since 
he  came  to  this  post,  and  might  now  be  considered  al- 
most a  finished  soldier  in  the  military  art. 

On  Sunday  Colonel  Moody  preached  to  some  two 
thousand  attentive  soldiers  from  this  text:  "  Choose  ye 
this  da}'  whom  ye  will  serve."  There  are  some  fears 
that  we  are  to  lose  the  services  of  Colonel  Moody, 
which  have  been  so  serviceable  at  this  post.  There 
seems  to  be  a  loud  and  earnest  call  from  his  regiment 
for  his-  presence  there,  and,  from  the  signs  of  the 
times,  I  should  not  be  surprised  to  hear  at  any  time 
that  the  colonel  is  under  marching  orders.  This  would 
be  good  news  for  Colonel  Moody,  as  he  has  ever  been 
anxious  to  join  his  regiment. 

Exposure  in  camp  and  wounds  on  the  battle- 
field seriously  affected  my  health.  In  consequence, 
not  only  for  my  own  good,  but  for  that  of  the 
army  as  well,  I  felt  compelled  to  throw  up  my 
commission.  The  details  of  my  leaving  the  army 
are  told  in  an  extract  from  one  of  the  newspapers 
of  the  time,  which  is  here  given. 


AS   COLONElv   OF   A   REGIMENT.  365 

It  will  be  a  surprise  to  many  to  hear  that  the 
famous  fighting  Methodist  preacher,  Colonel  Granville 
Moody,  has  resigned.  This  was  owing  in  chief  to 
the  effects  of  exposure  in  the  recent  battles  here.  The 
regimental,  brigade,  division,  and  corps  surgeons  all 
combine  in  certifying  to  his  physical  disability  for 
field-service.  The  colonel  has  received  from  Colonel 
Miller,  General  Negley,  General  Thomas,  and  General 
Rosecrans,  private  letters  of  the  most  complimentary 
character,  and  I  understand  that  they  will  also  recom- 
mend to  the  War  Department  that  he  may  receive  an 
appointment,  such  as  his  physical  abilities  will  enable 
him  to  fill,  and  "  such  as  will  be  a  fitting  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  past  services  to  his  country."  The  follow- 
ing is  Colonel  Moody's  letter  of  resignation : 

Head-quarters  Seventy-fourth  Regiment,  O.  V,  I.  \ 

MURFREESBORO,  TENNESSEE,  May   14,  1863.  J 

Colonel  C.  Goddard,  A.  A.  G.  Dep't.  of  the  Cumberland : 

Sir, — In  consequence  of  the  exposure  connected 
with  the  battles  of  Stone  River,  I  contracted  a  dis- 
ease which  greatly  disqualifies  me  for  field-duty,  and, 
at  intervals,  which  return  frequently,  I  am  totally 
unable  to  perform  the  active  duties  of  my  office,  and 
therefore  respectfully  tender  my  resignation  of  the 
commission  I  have  the  honor  to  hold  as  colonel  com- 
manding the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.  Please 
see  surgeon's  certificates  which  accompany  this  ap- 
plication. 

I  certify  that  I  am  not  indebted  to  the  United 
States;  that  I  have  no  government  property  in  my 
possession;  that  I  have  not  been  absent  without 
leave ;  I  was  last  paid  to  the  28th  day  of  February, 
1863  ;  and  that  there  are  no  charges  against  me  which 
can  affect  my  pay. 


366  Granville  Moody. 

With  entire  confidence  in  the  justice  of  the  cause 
in  which  I  have  spent  the  last  seventeen  months  of 
my  life,  with  the  highest  appreciation  of  the  noble 
volunteer  soldiery  of  our  army,  and  the  patriotism, 
wisdom,  and  valor  of  those  who  have  the  control  of 
the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  whose  particular  ac- 
quaintanceship I  am  happy  to  have  made ;  and  be- 
lieving that  the  Republic  will  safely  and  triumph- 
antly pass  through  the  refining  ordeal  of  the  present 
crisis,  and  come  forth  to  a  more  glorious  future,  and 
wishing  for  you  and  your  noble  band  of  co-operators 
the  largest  measure  of  success,  the  full  measure  of 
your  country's  gratitude,  and  that  coming  generations 
may  rise  up  to  honor  your  memory,  I  have  the  honor  to 
remain,  with  the  highest  personal  and  official  respect, 

Granville  Moody, 
Colonel  commanding  74th  Reg't,  O.  V.  I. 

The  following  is  the  recommendation  referred 
to  in  the  foregoing  extract,  which  was  forwarded 
to  the  War  Department : 

MURFREESBORO,  Tenn.,  May  16,  1863. 
Brigadier-Genera^  L.  Thomas,  Adj't-General  of  the  Army : 
Sir, — Colonel  Granville  Moody,  Seventy -fourth 
Regiment,  Ohio  Volunteers,  having  resigned  on  ac- 
count of  physical  disability  incurred  in  the  serv- 
ice, is  respectfully  recommended  by  the  undersigned 
for  the  position  of  "Post  Chaplain,"  should  a  vacancy 
occur.  Colonel  Moody  was,  before  entering  the  serv- 
ice, and  still  is,  a  Christian  minister,  eminent  for  his 
ability,  energy,  and  industry.  He  organized  the  Sev- 
enty-fourth Regiment,  Ohio  Volunteers,  in  December, 
1 86 1,  and  has  served  faithfully  ever  since,  but,  owing 
to  physical  infirmity,  is  now  disqualified  for  field 
service,    and  has  reluctantly  resigned.     His  military 


As  Colonel  of  a  Regiment.  367 

experience  pre-eminently  qualifies  him  for  the  position 
referred  to,  and  his  long-continued  and  faithful  services 
would  seem  to  merit  such  a  recognition. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 

W.  S.  Rosecrans, 
Major-General  commanding  Army  of  the  Cumberland. 

George  H.  Thomas, 

Major.General  U.  S.  A.,  commanding  14th  Army  Corps,  Army 
of  the  Cumberland. 

J.  A.  Garfield, 

Brigadier-General,  Volunteer  Chief  of  Staff  and  A.  A.  G.,  Staff 
of  General  Rosecrans. 

James  S.  Negley, 

Major-General    commanding   2d   Division,  14th    Army    Corps, 
Army  of  the  Cumberland. 

John  F.  Miller, 

Colonel  29th  Indiana  Volunteers,  commanding  3d  Brigade,  2d 
Division,  14th  Army  Corps,  Army  of  the  Cumberland. 

J.  J.  Reynolds,  Maj.-Gen. 
D.  L.  Stanley,  Maj.-Gen. 
J.  M.  Niebling, 
Colonel  commanding  21st  O.  V.  I. 

On  forwarding  the  above  document  to  the 
President,  General  Rosecrans  wrote  an  additional 
indorsement,  as  follows: 

Respectfully  forwarded  to  the  Adjutant- General  of 
the  Army.  Reverend  Colonel  Granville  Moody  be- 
haved most  gallantly  at  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  and 
is  a  zealous,   energetic,   and  faithful  man. 

Rosecrans. 

In  1865  I  was  recommended  to  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  Hon. 
Edwin  M.  Stanton,  for  the  office  and  rank  of  "  Briga- 
dier-General, by  brevet,  in  the  Volunteer  Army  of 
the   United  States   of  North  America,   for  distin- 


368  Granville  Moody. 

guished  services  in  the  battles  of  Stone  River, 
Tennessee."  The  recommendation  of  Secretary 
Stanton  was  honorably  approved  by  the  General 
Government,  and  the  above  rank  and  title  con- 
ferred upon  me  by  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  March  13,  1865. 


In  Civil  Life.  369 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

in  civil  life. 

A  MINISTER  is  none  the  less  a  citizen  because 
he  preaches  the  gospel.  His  rights  are  the 
same,  and  his  duties  the  same  as  those  of  any  other 
citizen.  He  may,  therefore,  take  part  in  all  civic 
celebrations,  and  even  make  what  are  called  by  the 
careless,  "political  speeches."  Politics  belong  to 
the  realm  of  ethics ;  and  so  far  as  they  concern  the 
well-being  of  society,  not  as  party  measures,  but  as 
principles  of  State  action,  they  are  proper  subjects 
for  discussion  by  the  minister  outside  the  pulpit. 
The  author  makes  no  apology  for  introducing  the  fol- 
lowing report  of  a  meeting  of  citizens  held  on  Wash- 
ington's Birthday,  in  Springfield,  Ohio,  1863.  The 
report   is  taken  from  the  Springfield    News: 

After  an  address  by  General  Rodney  Mason,  Col- 
onel Granville  Moody,  of  the  Seventy-fourth  Ohio,  was 
called  out.  The  gallant  fighting  preacher  rose  up  to 
his  full  height,  and  rung  out  in  clarion  tones  a  mag- 
nificient  speech,  as  follows : 

"  I  am  always  sure  to  be  present  at  any  meeting 
where  General  Mason  speaks.  I  formed  his  acquaint- 
ance in  the  fall  of  1832.  I  was  always  glad  to  sit  at  his 
feet.  He  is  a  master  Mason,  and  when  he  gives  the 
sign  of  danger  he  should  be  heeded.  His  well-digested 
remarks  have  anticipated  much  that  I  intended  to  say. 
I  am   satisfied  that  the  utterances  of  this  hour  will 


370  Granville  Moody. 

have  the  same  effect  that  the  words  of  Demosthenes 
had  upon  the  Greeks,  when  the  people  rose  up,  with 
one  mind,  and  exclaimed  :  '  Let  us  fight  against  Philip!' 
Let  us  also  say  :  '  Let  us  fight  against  Jefferson  Davis,' 
and  let  us  give  three  cheers  for  the  Union.  (Cheers.) 
There  's  powder  back  of  that  fire.  Difficulties  show 
what  men  or  communities  are  made  of.  They  scatter 
the  temporary  illusions  of  prosperity,  and  develop 
hidden  resources,  and  constitute  the  stern  school  in 
which  personal  and  national  virtues  are  trained  and 
perfected.  If  La  Belle  France,  forgetting  Lafayette, 
wishes  to  mix  in  this  fight,  we  say  with  Patrick  Henry, 
'Let  it  come!'  and  with  Thomas  Corwin,  we  assure 
them  that  we  will  'welcome  them  with  bloody  hands 
to  hospitable  graves !'  Jefferson  said :  '  I  would  to 
God  that  a  sea  of  fire  whose  billows  tossed  against  the 
clouds  were  between  us  and  Europe!'  Their  institu- 
tions are  opposed  to  ours.  They  have  looked  on  with 
green-eyed  jealousy  at  the  rising  glory  of  our  Republic. 
Their  principles  are  as  different  from  ours  as  light 
from  darkness,  as  heaven  from  hell,  as  Christ  from 
Belial.  They  foster  the  spirit  of  aristocracy  and  des- 
potism, whilst  we  maintain  the  rights  of  man  as  man, 
and  uphold  a  pure  democracy  ;  and  they  know  that 
the  success  of  our  experiment  will  be  fatal  to  the  old 
dynasties,  and  the  uprising  millions  of  Europe  will 
follow  the  light  of  our  starlit  flag,  and  claim  and  vin- 
dicate man's  right  to  self-government. 

"  It  may  be  the  plan  of  an  all-comprehending, 
bounding,  directing,  and  permissive  Providence,  judi- 
cially to  blind  France,  until  she  becomes  a  party  with 
the  Rebellion  for  the  monopoly  of  cotton,  and  thus 
arouses  the  opposition  of  our  Fatherland ;  and  the 
lion  and  the  unicorn  and  the  American  Eagle  may 
throw    their    proud   banners    to    the    battle  and  the 


In  Civil  Life.  371 

breeze  against  Napoleon,  Jefferson  Davis,  and  the 
devil;  and  the  descendants  of  the  mighty  Queen  Bess, 
under  Victoria  and  Father  Abraham,  will  give  them 
1  Hail  Columbia,'  and  thus,  complicating  the  affairs  of 
Europe,  will  constitute  the  turning  and  overturning 
predicted  by  the  prophets,  and  represented  by  theolo- 
gians as  culminating  in  the  '  good  time  coming '  in 
1866.  But  let  this  be  as  it  may,  our  Southern  rebels 
and  their  allies  will  find  us  on  hand,  and,  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  God  Almighty,  we  will  give  them  an  al- 
mighty thrashing  ! 

"  But  I  was  particularly  requested  to  speak  to  the 
following  resolution : 

"  '  Resolved,  That  cherishing  with  grateful  hearts 
the  memory  of  the  heroic  services  by  our  soldiers  in 
the  field,  we  send  them  greeting,  that  their  declarations 
of  unalloyed  patriotism  and  of  firm  determination  to 
fight  under  the  old  flag,  until  it  shall  be  acknowledged 
in  every  disloyal  State,  finds  a  warm  response  in  all 
loyal  hearts,  and  furnishes  abundant  assurance  that 
they  are  prepared  for  skulking  traitors  in  the  rear,  as 
well  as  open  enemies  in  front.' 

"  In  behalf  of  the  soldiers  in  the  field,  I  desire,  on 
this  occasion,  to  declare  that  your  appreciation  of  their 
services  constitutes  no  small  portion  of  their  reward. 
No  tongue  or  pen  has,  as  yet,  been  able  to  portray  to 
those  who  remain  at  home  the  nature  and  extent  of 
those  services  you  are  pleased  to  style  '  heroic,'  the 
memory  of  which  you  say  you  do  and  will  cherish  with 
grateful  hearts. 

"  Self  exiled  from  '  home,  sweet  home ;'  sacrificing 
pecuniary  and  relative  interests ;  subjected  to  neces- 
sary arbitrary  military  authority;  burdened  with 
weapons  of  war  and  martial  accouterments,  the  heavy 
knapsack   and   indispensable    blanket,    the    tiresome 


372  Granville  Moody. 

march,  the  ofttimes  scanty  and  irregular  ration  ;  dis- 
ease lurking  in  the  system  or  preying  upon  the 
vitals,  with  hospital  or  hospitable  graves  in  prospec- 
tive ;  exposure  to  the  pitiless  storms  of  winter ;  the 
frequent  bivouac;  encamping  for  the  night  without 
tents  or  shelter;  heavy  guard  and  picket  duty;  the 
perilous  reconnoissance;  the  desperate  foraging  party; 
the  midnight  march  and  attack  in  the  surprise  of  the 
foe ;  the  stern  preparation  and  exhaustive  drill  which 
precedes  an  engagement ;  the  forced  march ;  the  ar- 
rival on  the  field  of  battle ;  the  marshaling  of  heavy 
forces  for  the  deadly  strife ;  the  toiling  work  with  pick 
and  spade  and  ax  in  throwing  up  the  long  line  of 
breastworks,  rifle-pits,  and  forts ;  and,  at  length,  long 
lines  of  warriors,  infantry,  artillery,  and  cavalry,  with 
their  appropriate  dispositions  for  the  deadly  struggle, 
all  constituting  '  battle's  magnificently  stern  array ;' 
the  hastening  aid-de-camp ;  the  careful  officers  and 
generals,  on  whose  shoulders  rests  a  responsibility  which 
casts  its  influence  on  their  features ;  and  now,  on  the 
center  or  wing,  or  adown  the  whole  line,  the  fiery  foe 
opens  on  the  long,  dark  masses  of  humanity  the  in- 
fernal storm  of  round  shot,  shell,  spherical  case,  grape, 
canister  or  shrapnel,  with  the  more  terrific  fire  of  in- 
fantry by  rank,  by  battalion,  by  file,  and  at  will,  as 
though  hell's  high  carnival  was  held,  and  demons 
ruled  the  hour ;  the  painful  wound,  the  life-demand- 
ing bayonet-thrust ;  the  quivering  limbs,  as  life's  crim- 
son current  flows  and  fails ;  the  shattered  head ;  the 
horrid  chasm  in  the  manly  form  through  which  the 
screaming  shell  has  crushed  its  way ;  the  advance;  the 
retreat ;  the  advance  again  with  decimated  ranks ;  the 
confused  noise  of  warriors,  and  garments  rolled  in  blood; 
the  shouting  of  the  warriors,  and  the  shock  of  battle  ; 
the  retreat  of  the  rebel  foe;  the  hearty  rejoicing  of  the 


In  Civil  Life.  373 

surviving  heroes,  as  they  congratulate  each  other  over 
the  success  of  the  day;  the  solemn  burial  of  the  dead; 
the  awful  scenes  in  the  hospitals,  where  kind  visits  are 
made  by  relatives  and  friends;  the  frequent  burial 
of  comrades ;  the  extreme  exhaustion  of  officers  after 
a  decisive  battle  ;  a  desolated  country  through  which 
to  resume  the  march,  and  a  repetition  of  these  scenes 
and  series,— make,  singly  and  together,  but  an  imperfect 
sketch  of  what  is  implied  in  the  language  of  your  res- 
olution, when  you  speak  of  the  'heroic  services  of  our 
soldiers  in  the  field.' 

"  None  but  real  patriots  would  endure  these  pains 
and  brave  these  perils;  and  they  do  indeed  deserve  to 
live  in  the  memory  of  those  at  home,  in  whose  behalf 
they  brave  these  dangers  whilst  they  stand  between 
your  loved  homes  and  the  war's  desolation." 

Here  the  speaker  introduced  Sergeant  Charles  Har- 
rison, the  color-bearer  of  the  Seventy-fourth  Regi- 
ment, who  had  gallantly  borne  the  National  banner 
through  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and  during  the  ten 
days  when  the  regiment  chased  John  Morgan  through 
those  States  by  steam,  and  only  regretted  that  they 
could  not  get  within  striking  distance  of  the  great  ske- 
daddler.  Old  Charlie  had  served  seventeen  years  in  the 
British  army,  seven  years  in  Africa,  six  in  St.  Helena 
as  guard  over  the  great  Napoleon,  two  years  in  the 
Mexican  War,  in  which  he  followed  the  old  flag  at 
Vera  Cruz,  Cerro  Gordo,  Chapultepec,  Churubusco, 
and  Molino  del  Rey,  till  it  floated  in  triumph  over  the 
Halls  of  the  Montezumas  ;  and  now,  in  his  old  age,  has 
volunteered  to  defend  the  flag  of  his  country  against 
its  rebel  foes.  As  Old  Charlie  rose,  the  very  imper- 
sonation of  the  soldier,  he  was  greeted  by  a  perfect 
storm  of  applause,  and  three  cheers  for  Old  Charlie, 
the  color-bearer  of   Colonel  Moody's   regiment,  were 


374  Granville  Moody. 

given  with  a  will  from  the  patriotic  throng,  appreciat- 
ing the  nobility  of  the  rank  and  file,  as  well  as  officers, 
in  freedom's  holy  cause.  The  speaker  resuming,  said  : 
"If  you  could  but  know  half  of  what  'Old  Charlie  ' 
has  seen,  you  would  pass  the  resolution  with  unanimity 
and  enthusiasm ;  for  your  sons  in  the  field  are  worthy 
representatives  of  the  warriors  of  '76,  who  had 

'Souls  that  could  dare,  and  hands  that  could  strike, 
And  their  sons  were  not  born  to  be  slaves.' 

"This  resolution  also  sends  to  our  soldiers  in  the 
field  the  kindest  greetings  in  view  of  '  their  declara- 
tions of  unalloyed  patriotism,  and  their  determination 
to  fight  on  under  the  old  flag,  until  it  shall  be  acknowl- 
edged in  every  disloyal  State.' 

"Yes,  sir,  the  utterances  of  our  soldiers  in  the  field 
are  plain,  direct,  and  they  are  terribly  in  earnest,  too. 
They  are  the  utterances  of  men  who  know  what  they 
affirm,  and  you  are  right  when  you  characterize  them 
in  this  resolution  as  unalloyed  patriotism.  The  utter- 
ances of  our  soldiers  in  the  field  are  not  as  ambiguous 
as  Delphic  oracles,  but  clear  and  true  as  Shiloh's  firm 
response.  Those  declarations  are  as  emphatic  as  the 
crack  of  their  rifles,  and  as  unmistakable  as  the  roar 
of  their  cannon,  as  with  brazen,  burning  lips,  they  say 
with  General  Jackson :  '  The  Federal  Union,  it  must 
and  shall  be  preserved.' 

"Your  soldiers  in  the  front,  sir,  occupy  a  stand- 
point where  they  can  see  the  Rebellion  as  you  can  not 
see  it ;  they  can  feel  the  pulse  as  you  can  not ;  and 
after  a  few  weeks'  service  against  rebellion,  they  are 
perfectly  united  on  the  sentiment  that  the  Rebellion 
can,  and  only  can,  be  put  down  by  force  of  arms. 
They  go  there  as  Republicans  or  Democrats  or  Old- 
line  Whigs,  but  soon  are  baptized  into  one  spirit ;  and 
their  short  creed  is,  This  affair  must  be  fought  out  to 


In  Civil  Life.  375 

the  bitter  end.  Their  '  determination '  is  parent  of  their 
'declarations,'  and,  combined,  they  are  but  the  rever- 
beration of  the  doctrine  of  the  Farewell  Address  of 
him  whose  birthday  we  this  day  gratefully  celebrate — 
1  First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts 
of  his  countrymen.'  I  intend,  sir,  that  the  audience 
shall  hear  those  utterances  this  night.  I  shall  make 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  speak  to-night 
through  the  resolutions  passed  by  our  regiments  in 
the  field,  who,  in  the  language  of  your  resolutions, 
'are  prepared  for  skulking  traitors  in  the  rear  as  well 
as  for  open  enemies  in  the  front.'  Whilst  from  our 
inmost  souls  we  abhor,  abjure,  detest,  despise  these 
craven  gray-backs,  butternuts,  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle,  who,  following  Vallandigham,  Olds,  Voorhees, 
and  other  jayhawking  sympathizers  with  rebels,  are 
spouting  treason  at  home,  whilst  the  true  friends  of 
the  country  are  speaking  in  tongues  of  fire  in  the 
front,  yet  we  are  glad  that  they  have  so  early  shown 
their  hands,  and  the  virtuous  outbursts  of  patriotism 
will  bury  the  whole  crew  as  if  covered  with  a  mountain 
avalanche. 

"These  bold,  bad  men  who  are  'rendering  aid  and 
comfort  to  our  enemies '  by  their  resolutions  and 
speeches,  which  are  circulated  through  the  South  by 
thousands,  constitute  the  main  dependence  of  the 
rebels.  Ask  a  rebel  prisoner  what  is  their  hope  of 
success,  and  the  invariable  reply  is,  'A  divided  North,' 
'The  Democratic  party,'  and  will  flippantly  quote 
Vallandigham,  Olds,  and  other  traitors  to  our  holy 
cause,  and  say,  'What  do  you  think  of  that?"  We 
reply,  that  they  are  but  the  craven  cormorants  seek- 
ing office  at  the  expense  of  patriotism,  and  are  as 
contemptible  in  point  of  numbers  as  they  are  in  point 
of   character;    that    they  are   but  the  Shays,    Burrs, 


376  Granville  Moody. 

Arnolds,  and  Dorrs  of  other  days  by  transmigration, 
and  are  predoomed,  politically,  to  as  quick  a  death, 
and  to  as  deep  and  dark  and  desperate  a  damnation, 
as  their  infamous  prototypes. 

"I  am  glad  to  know,  and  soon  will  show  you  by  the 
documents,  that  this  is  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  our 
soldiers  in  the  front ;  the  men  with  rifles  and  bayonets 
in  their  hands ;  the  men  who,  rising  above  mere  party 
lines,  stand  warring  for  the  Union  against  its  open  and 
secret  foes,  led  on  by  the  noble  General  Rosecrans, 
the  idol  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  who  will  chop 
right  into  the  center  of  Cottondom,  and  plant  the 
flag  of  the  Union  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Rebellion. 

"Let  us  now  hear  from  Indiana,  the  Hoosier  State, 
which  wears  peerless  honors  in  the  grand  war  for  the 
Constitution."  (Cheers.)  Here  General  Milroy's  glo- 
rious letter  to  the  Democracy  of  Indiana  was  read  to 
the  audience  amid  deafening  thunders  of  applause. 

Colonel  Moody  said:  "I  have  known  General  Mil- 
roy  for  fifteen  years — a  noble  specimen  of  manhood, 
a  Christian,  and  'the  highest  style  of  man.'  I  recol- 
lect visiting  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Jasper  County, 
Indiana,  some  years  ago,  and  found  Elder  Milroy  in 
the  Sabbath-school,  bending  his  Herculean  form  over 
a  class  of  Hoosier  boys,  teaching  them  the  Word  of 
God  and  the  way  to  heaven  ;  and  now  he  is  in  the 
field  fighting  and  praying — and  fighting  all  the  better 
for  the  praying,  too. 

"Ah  yes!  the  Christian  general  loves  his  country, 
and  would  join  us  to-night  in  saying,  practically,  '  If 
any  man,  Democrat  or  Republican,  loves  not  the  Gov- 
ernment, the  Constitution,  and  the  Union,  let  him  be 
Anathema  Maranatha;'  or,  as  old  Robert  Miller,  of 
this  county,  explained  the  apostolic  execration,  'Let 
him  be  damned  and  double  damned' — that  is,  we  say 


In  Civil  Life.  377 

politically,  hoping  that  they  may  be  led  by  their  ad- 
versities to  the  repentance  that  needeth  not  to  be 
repented  of." 

The  colonel  then  referred  to  the  valor  of  an  Irish- 
man in  his  command  who  fired  sixty  rounds  of  am- 
munition, and  got  more  from  a  dead  comrade's  car- 
tridge-box, firing  away  until  his  musket-barrel  was  so 
hot  he  could  not  hold  it.  "May  God,"  he  said,  "inspire 
you  all  with  such  a  patriotism  as  this!"  The  colonel 
then  spoke  of  those  men  who  were  war  men  in  peace, 
peace  men  in  war,  and  but  pieces  of  men  at  any  time. 

Colonel  Moody's  points,  and  they  were  without 
number  almost,  were  received  with  unbounded  en- 
thusiasm. He  spoke  from  his  own  personal  obser- 
vation, gave  the  voice  of  the  army  as  he  heard  it, 
and  his  utterances  were  responded  to  unanimously 
and  gloriously  by  the  immense  audience. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions  cheers  were 
heartily  given  as  follows  :  Three  for  the  Ladies'  Aid 
Society,  three  for  Abraham  Lincoln,  three  for  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury,  three  for  the  Administration, 
about  twelve  for  General  Rosecrans,  three  for  Col- 
onel Moody,  three  for  the  loyal  editors  of  Ohio  and  of 
the  other  States,  and  three  dismal  groans  were  given 
for  disloyal  editors. 

The  following  speech  on  the  situation  of  pub- 
lic affairs  was  delivered  by  the  author  at  Rip- 
ley in  the  autumn  of  1868,  just  after  the  State 
elections : 

Fellow-Citizens, — The  grand  crisis  has  been 
passed  in  safety  and  triumph.  Ten  days  ago  Free- 
dom's battle  was  fought  and  won.  This  Nation  and 
the  combined  world  stood  in  excited  and  painful  sus- 

32 


378  Granville  Moody. 

pense,  whilst  the  heavy  columns  of  our  loyal  veterans 
deployed  into  the  serried  line  of  battle  against  the 
cohorts  of  oppression  and  disloyalty,  who  rallied  again 
around  the  banners  of  the  "Lost  Cause."  The  battle- 
line  stretched  westward  from  the  Atlantic  coast,  over 
the  craggy  ridges  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  across  the 
slopes  of  the  Monongahela  it  rolled  its  sharp,  rattling 
volleys  throughout  Ohio,  the  grand  gate-way  to  the 
mighty  West,  and  the  thunder  of  the  right  wing  was 
heard  on  the  advancing  line  of  Indiana's  stalwart 
sons,  and  where  through  frowning  mountain-gates 
Nebraska's  waters  roar. 

With  Caesar  we  may  say  in  sharp,  short  utter- 
ances, "  Veni,  vidiy  vici"  With  an  American  hero  we 
may  say,  "  We  have  met  the  enemy,  and  they  are  ours." 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Nebraska  have 
followed  the  victorious  career  of  Vermont  and  Maine 
in  these  Republican  victories  over  the  so-called  De- 
mocracy. The  broken  lines  and  shattered  columns  of 
the  foe,  and  the  consternation  carried  to  the  very 
head-quarters  of  their  camp,  attest  the  completeness  of 
our  victories  and  give  a  glorious  presage  of  ultimate 
victory  for  Grant  and  Colfax  on  the  fast  coming  3d 
of  November.  In  vain  aid  Seymour,  Blair,  Vallan- 
digham,  Cary,  Wade  Hampton,  Pendleton,  Forrest, 
Beauregard,  Dan  Voorhees,  and  the  leaders  of  the  Ku- 
Klux  Confederate  Democracy  set  a  "Barrere"  to  the 
rising  flood  of  patriotism  which  has  swept  over  the 
land.    They  could  not  bid  this  grand  ground-swell  back. 

It  may  be  useful  to  consider  the  question,  What 
is  this  party  which  we  have  sent  reeling  and  howling 
back  from  the  battle-line  of  last  Tuesday?  which,  in- 
deed, was  the  Gettysburg  victory,  to  be  followed  by 
the  Appomattox  surrender  on  the  3d  of  November. 
We  have  called  the  party  the  Ku-Klux   Confederate 


In  Civil  Life.  379 

Democracy,  a  party  that  has  been  false  to  our  National 
principles,  to  our  National  honor,  to  our  Nationality, 
and  to  "  the  holy  cause  of  human  liberty  and  personal 
rights."  It  is  not  the  old  Democracy  that  deemed  it 
to  be  its  honor  to  stand  by  "our  country  right  or 
wrong."  It  is  not  the  party  that  rallied  around 
General  Jackson  when  he  subjugated  the  nullifiers  of 
South  Carolina,  and  on  his  death-bed  most  regretted 
that  he  had  not  hung  their  traitorous  leader,  John  C. 
Calhoun,  in  1832,  who,  at  that  day,  held  the  political 
ground  of  the  rebels  we  have  just  subjugated,  and 
then  avowed  the  nullification  doctrine,  which  consti- 
tutes the  principal  plank  in  the  platform  of  the  so- 
called  Democracy  of  1868.  It  is  not  the  party  that 
first  echoed  the  utterance  of  "  Old  Hickory,"  that 
"  the  Federal  Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved."  It 
is  not  the  party  that  shouted  with  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
0  In  this  war  there  are  but  two  parties,  patriots  and 
traitors ;  and  whoever  does  not  do  all  he  can  to  aid  the 
Government  in  putting  down  the  rebellion  is  a  trai- 
tor at  heart."  It  is  not  the  old  Democratic  party  that 
in  Ohio  resolved  from  year  to  year  that  "  slavery  is  a 
moral,  social,  and  political  evil  that  ought  to  be  extir- 
pated." It  is  not  the  party  that  gloried  once  in  the 
names  of  Dix,  Stanton,  Logan,  Butler,  Morton,  Fen- 
ton,  Burnside,  Hooker,  Tod,  Brough,  and  hundreds 
beside,  who  were  formerly  lights  in  the  Democracy, 
before  its  base  apostasy  to  the  lords  of  slavery,  trea- 
son, and  nullification  ;  but  now  these  patriotic  men 
are  found  in  the  Republican  ranks,  sustaining  the  true 
Democracy  against  the  aristocracy  of  the  South  and 
their  allies  in  the  North,  who  endeavored  to  build  an 
empire  of  slavery,  resting  upon  the  ruins  of  human 
rights,  and  utterly  ignoring  the  principles  of  '76.  But 
it  is  the  party  that  abolished  the  Missouri  Compromise 


380  Granville  Moody. 

line  to  admit  slavery  to  the  virgin  soil  of  Kansas; 
that  justified  and  defended  the  Border  Ruffians ;  that 
removed  Governor  Reeder;  made  the  accursed  pro- 
slavery  Lecompton  Constitution  ;  indorsed  the  Dred 
Scott  Decision,  "  that  black  men  have  no  rights  that 
white  men  are  bound  to  respect;"  did  all  that  could 
be  done  to  make  Kansas  a  slave  State  ;  encouraged  the 
South  to  commence  and  continue  open,  flagrant, 
deadly  war  to  compel  our  Government  to  submit  to 
its  own  dismemberment ;  denied  our  nationality,  and 
vindicated  the  South  in  its  claimed  right  of  secession ; 
opposed  the  Government  calling  out  troops  to  defend 
our  nationality  and  our  sacred  rights ;  defended  the 
miserable  pro-slavery  Crittenden  Compromise ;  lauded 
the  Constitution  of  the  Confederates  as  vastly  superior 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  ;  declared  that 
Hungary  had  less  cause  to  complain  against  Austria 
than  the  Southern  States  have  against  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  ;  and  publicly  declared  sympathy 
with  secessionists  in  the  Senate  and  House  in  the 
gloomy  winter  of  1 860-1,  and  since  then  in  endless 
forms.  Representative  men  of  this  Democracy,  high 
in  place  and  power,  stole  the  arms  of  the  United 
States,  and  transported  them  to  rebels,  and  scat- 
tered our  army  and  navy,  to  leave  us  powerless  before 
their  traitorous  allies.  Their  chosen  President,  the  old 
Democratic  public  functionary,  James  Buchanan,  of- 
ficially declared  the  secession  of  the  States,  and  that 
the  Government  has  no  right  to  coerce  a  sovereign 
though  refractory  State.  Governor  Pickens,  the  Dem- 
ocratic Governor  of  South  Carolina,  ordered  the  bom- 
bardment of  our  National  fort,  Sumter,  "  to  fire  the 
Southern  heart." 

This  Democratic    party,    by    advocating   the  Vir- 
ginia and  Kentucky  nullification  resolutions  of  1798, 


In  Civil  Life.  381 

has  been  preaching  rebellion  till  it  became  an  ac- 
complished fact.  This  party  has  produced  all  the 
State  sovereignty,  nullification  conspiracy  and  civil 
war,  and  furnished  all  the  traitors  in  the  United 
States.  This  Democracy  fought  in  six  hundred  battles 
in  the  South  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  our  Gov- 
ernment, whilst  the  same  party  rendered  aid  and  com- 
fort to  their  cause  in  the  North.  This  Democratic 
party  steadily  opposed  the  war,  resisted  the  draft,  de- 
nounced President  Lincoln  for  keeping  his  heaven- 
recorded  oath,  and  did  all  they  could  to  embarrass 
him  in  the  discharge  of  his  bounden  duties.  This 
Democracy  originated  and  maintained  all  the  secret, 
oath-bound  societies  known  as  the  Sons  of  Liberty, 
Order  of  American  Knights,  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle,  with  Vallandigham  as  commander-in-chief,  all 
pledged  to  aid  rebels  in  their  devilish  design  to  over- 
throw this  glorious  Government  of  ours.  This  Democ- 
racy constantly  prophesied  the  success  of  our  foes  and 
the  defeat  of  our  arms,  declared  that  we  could  never 
subjugate  the  chivalry,  never  rejoiced  over  the  victo- 
ries of  the  Union  armies,  and  showed  their  deep  cha- 
grin when  rebels  were  routed,  and  were  all  smiles,  and 
said,  "  Did  n't  we  tell  you  so?"  when  our  public  enemies 
gained  any  advantage  over  our  boys  in  blue.  This 
Democracy  assured  the  rebels  that  if  there  was  any 
war  on  account  of  their  secession,  it  should  all  be  in 
the  North,  and  that  they  would  prevent  the  rebellion 
from  invading  the  Southern  States,  should  they  suc- 
ceed and  break  up  the  Government. 

This  Democracy  nominated  for  governor  of  Ohio 
the  thrice-convicted  traitor  Vallandigham,  who  met 
his  final  defeat  last  Tuesday.  This  Democracy  used 
every  endeavor  to  prevent  our  Government  from  pro- 
curing   money    to    put    down    the    rebellion,  by  de- 


382  Granville  Moody. 

nouncing  the  issue  of  bonds  and  legal-tender  notes 
as  unconstitutional ;  and,  by  decrying  them  before 
our  people  and  the  world,  endeavored  to  render  them 
valueless.  This  Democracy  approached  Lord  Lyons, 
the  representative  of  Great  Britain  in  Washington, 
and  said  to  him,  that,  "  beyond  a  doubt,  Southern  se- 
cession and  independence  are  fixed  facts,  and  they 
were  in  favor  of  its  recognition."  This  Democracy 
assembled  in  Chicago  in  1864,  with  Horatio  Seymour 
as  their  president,  and  Vallandigham  on  the  Commit- 
tee on  Platform ;  and  on  the  identical  day  that  Gen- 
eral Sherman's  shells  were  crashing  through  the  roofs 
of  the  houses  in  Atlanta,  and  our  "  brave  boys  in  blue  " 
were  driving  the  Democracy  in  gray,  under  General 
Hood,  out  of  Atlanta,  on  that  identical  day  the  Cop- 
perhead Confederate  Democracy  passed  the  resolution 
that  "  our  effort  to  sustain  our  Government  by  war 
is  a  failure,  and  the  public  welfare  demands  that  an 
immediate  effort  be  made  for  the  cessation  of  hostili- 
ties," etc.  O,  shame  on  your  avowed,  recorded  cow- 
ardice, ye  truckling  panderers  to  oppressors  and  trai- 
tors !     Well  might  every  loyal  lip  exclaim, 

"What !  hoist  a  white  flag  when  our  triumph  is  riigh  ? 
What!  crouch  before  Treason,  make  Freedom  a  lie? 
What !  spike  all  our  guns  when  our  foe  is  at  bay, 
And  the  rags  of  his  banner  are  dropping  away? 
Tear  down  the  strong  name  that  our  Nation  has  won, 
And  strike  our  brave  bird  from  his  home  in  the  sun  ? 

He 's  a  coward  who  shrinks  from  the  lift  of  the  sword ! 
He 's  a  traitor  who  mocks  at  the  sacrifice  poured ! 
Nameless  and  homeless  the  doom  that  should  blast 
The  knave  who  stands  idly  till  danger  is  past ! 
But  he  who  submits  when  the  thunders  have  burst, 
And  victory  dawns,  is  of  cowards  the  worst ! 

By  the  God  of  our  fathers,  this  shame  we  won't  share ; 
It  grows  too  debasing  for  freemen  to  bear ; 


In  Civil  Life.  383 

And  Washington,  Jackson,  will  turn  i'u  their  graves, 
When  our  country  shall  rest  on  two  races  of  slaves, 
Or,  yielding  the  spirit  which  bound  us  of  yore, 
And  sundered,  exist  as  a  Nation  no  more." 

Yet  it  is  the  record  that  this  craven,  truckling  De- 
mocracy were  thus  ready  to  yield  up  to  negro-drivers 
the  high  trust  and  heritage  of  our  glorious  Union,  and 
submit  to  the  parceling  out  of  our  National  domain  to 
our  public  enemies.  This  Democracy  denounced  our 
peerless  soldiers  as  "  Lincoln's  hirelings,"  "  hired 
Hessians,"  "outlaws,  thieves,  and  murderers,"  "hell- 
hounds," "  hired  scoundrels."  This  Democracy,  by 
overt  and  covert  treason,  has  filled  our  land  with 
widowhood  and  orphanage,  and  made  countless  homes 
desolate,  and  burdened  the  Nation  with  an  immense 
public  debt  and  onerous  taxation,  and  now,  with  Pen- 
dleton, would  pay  it  in  a  depreciated  currency.  This 
Democracy,  when  our  arms  were  triumphant,  fur- 
nished the  Wilkes  Booth,  who  capped  the  climax  of 
Confederate  Ku-Kluxism  by  the  assassination  of  the 
wise,  the  true,  the  tender,  the  merciful,  the  patriotic, 
the  devoted,  the  peerless  Lincoln,  whose  fame  for 
every  virtue  fills  the  world ; 

"  Whose  monument  henceforth  shall  be 
The  broken  fetters  of  the  slave." 

This  Democracy  of  the  North,  when  rebels  were 
conquered  and  suppliant,  rallied  about  his  accidency, 
Andrew  Johnson,  with  his  "  my  policy,"  which  restored 
unrepentant  rebels  to  power  all  over  the  land,  and  in 
the  government  they  sought  to  destroy ;  and,  had  his 
policy  succeeded,  repudiation  would  have  been  an  ac- 
complished fact,  and  the  "  lost  cause  "  would  have  been 
gained.  Ah!  he  can  not  mend  the  numerous  breaches 
he  has  made.  This  Democracy  resisted  the  emanci- 
pation  of  the    enslaved,  the    Civil    Rights    Bill,   the 


384  Granville  Moody. 

Fourteenth  Constitutional  Amendment,  the  Recon- 
struction Acts,  the  formation  of  free  constitutions  in 
the  Southern  States,  and  denied  the  protection  of  the 
ballot  to  the  men  who  periled  their  all  for  the  life  of 
the  Nation.  This  Democracy  filled  the  graves  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  patriots  by  their  encourage- 
ment to  traitors,  and  their  Southern  allies  starved  to 
death  seventeen  thousand  patriot  soldiers  in  the  prison- 
pens  of  Andersonville,  Belle  Isle,  Libby,  and  other 
hell-holes.  This  Democracy,  having  failed  to  destroy 
our  Government  by  force  of  arms,  would  destroy  its 
credit,  and,  with  Judge  Thurman,  go  about  the  country 
making  sage  arithmetical  calculations  about  the  in- 
creasing cost  of  the  young  Copperhead's  shirt  with  a 
circumscribed  narrative  to  it.  This  Confederate  De- 
mocrac}'  compelled  the  Nation  to  incur  this  debt  to  in- 
sure our  very  existence  as  a  Nation ;  and  now  that 
loyal  and  disloyal  are  alike  taxed  to  pay  the  debt  and 
its  accruing  interest,  they  squirm  ;  they  hate  the  debt, 
because  by  its  aid  we  whipped  their  friends  and  saved 
the  Nation. 

This  same  Democracy  assembled,  last  Fourth  of 
July,  in  Tammany  Hall,  in  New  York,  and,  out  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty-two  Southern  delegates  present, 
over  one  hundred  of  them  were  rebel  officers;  and 
there  were  present  more  members  of  the  late  Congress 
of  the  Confederate  States  than  the  same  stripe  of  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States ;  and  these  Secesh  dic- 
tated the  platform  of  the  Democracy,  assumed  to  de- 
clare the  Reconstruction  Laws  of  the  United  States 
null  and  void,  saying,  "  We  regard  the  Reconstruction 
Acts  (so-called)  of  Congress,  as  such,  usurpations  and 
unconstitutional,  revolutionary  and  void." 

This  same  Northern  Democracy,  then  and  there,  as  in 
the  past,  affiliated  with  our  public  foes — such  as  Wade 


In  Civii.  Life.  385 

Hamption,  Governor  Vance,  General  Preston,  Gen- 
eral Forrest,  of  Fort  Pillow  massacre ;  General  Buck- 
ner  (for  whom  General  Grant  went  to  Fort  Donelson, 
though  Buckner  will  not  go  for  Grant  now)  ;  Basil 
Duke,  who  burned  Augusta  and  ravaged  Ohio,  with 
Morgan  ;  Dykes,  who  stole  and  sold  the  supplies  which 
Northern  mothers,  wives,  and  sisters  sent  to  their  im- 
prisoned ones  in  Andersonville ;  and  there,  too,  was 
one  Joe  Williams,  a  renegade,  coal-black  Negro  dele- 
gate from  Tennessee, — and  there  they  mingled,  min- 
gled, mingled,  and  Northern  Democrats  shouted,  and 
readily  learned  the  Southern  yell,  when  Wade  Hamp- 
ton, Butcher  Forrest,  or  General  Preston  would  stride, 
with  plantation  manners,  into  Tammany  Hall.  In 
fact,  they  grinned  with  delight  when  their  old  masters 
came  again.  They  bowed,  and  shook  hands,  and  em- 
braced each  other,  just  as  they  would  have  done  through 
all  the  war,  had  it  not  been  for  our  line  of  fighting 
boys  in  blue  between  them. 

And  now  this  Democratic  Convention  select  as 
their  representative  man,  Horatio  Seymour,  of  New 
York,  a  man  who  went  into  retiracy  in  Wisconsin 
when  the  rebels  opened  fire  on  our  flag,  and  refused  to 
speak  to  a  meeting  of  soldiers  there  when  asked,  say- 
ing: "No,  I  don't  know  how  this  thing  is  going  to 
turn  out."  In  1861,  January  30th,  in  his  speech  at 
Tweddle  Hall,  he  said :  "  Let  us  see  if  successful 
coercion  by  the  North  is  less  revolutionary  than  suc- 
cessful secession  in  the  South."  A  few  weeks  after 
this,  Seymour,  in  a  letter  to  Judge  Ruggles,  said  • 
"  Judge,  have  you  read  the  Confederate  Constitution? 
I  have,  and  it  is  preferable  to  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion. Now,  why  not  avoid  all  trouble  by  ourselves 
adopting  the  Confederate  Constitution?"  Shame,  O 
shame  on  the  poor  poltroon!     In  October,   1861,  he 

33 


386  Granville  Moody. 

said:  "If  it  is  true  that  slavery  must  be  abolished 
to  save  the  Union,  the  people  of  the  South  should 
be  allowed  to  withdraw  themselves  from  the  Govern- 
ment, which  can  not  give  them  guarantees  by  its  terms." 
Is  it  the  voice  of  Jacob  or  Esau,  patriot  or  traitor  ? 

On  the  Fourth  of  July,  1863,  Governor  Seymour 
made  a  speech  at  Cooper  Institute,  in  ignorance  of 
General  Meade's  victory  at  Gettysburg,  and  evidently 
in  expectation  of  a  successful  advance  of  Lee  north- 
ward. That  speech  could  not  have  been  better  adapted 
to  excite  mob  violence  and  a  fresh  outbreak  in  aid 
of  the  rebels.  The  whole  spirit  of  the  speech  was 
one  of  hostility  to  the  war,  and  to  President  Lincoln's 
earnest  efforts  to  enforce  the  laws  and  save  the  Nation  ; 
and  the  Wade  Hamptons,  Vallandighams,  and  Forrests 
so  understand  him  to-day !  A  bloody  riot  ensued  and 
raged  for  days,  and  threatened  indiscriminate  plunder 
and  murder.  Seymour  appeared  before  the  rebel  mob, 
got  up  to  hinder  the  drafting  of  men  to  save  the  coun- 
try, and,  addressing  them  as  "  my  friends,"  assured 
them  that  he  had  taken  measures  to  have  the  draft 
stopped.  He  proposed  to  end  this  riot  by  fully  ac- 
ceding to  the  terms  with  which  the  mob  commenced 
its  bloody  revolt  in  the  interest  of  Robert  Lee's 
whipped  army. 

In  his  letter  to  President  Lincoln,  Seymour  said  : 
"It  is  believed  by  at  least  one-half  the  people  of 
the  loyal  States,  that  the  Conscription  Act,  which  they 
are  called  upon  to  obey  because  it  is  on  the  statute- 
book,  is  in  itself  a  violation  of  the  supreme  Constitu- 
tional law.  I  do  not  dwell  upon  the  consequences  of 
a  harsh  or  violent  policy  before  the  constitutionality 
of  the  law  is  tested.  You  can  scan  the  future  as  well 
as  I.  The  temper  of  the  people  to-day  you  can  readily 
learn."     It  was  just  at  the  moment  when  the  brilliant 


In  Civil  Life.  387 

successes  of  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg  proved  that 
the  war  was  not  a  failure,  that  Seymour,  on  the  Fourth, 
said  to  the  rebel  Copperhead,  Ku-Klux,  bloody,  mur- 
dering, house-burning  mob:  "My  friends,  I  am  here 
to  show  you  a  test  of  my  friendship.  I  wish  to  inform 
you  that  I  have  sent  my  adjutant-general  to  Wash- 
ington to  confer  with  the  authorities  there,  and  to 
have  the  draft  suspended  and  stopped."  (Vociferous 
cheering.) 

Yes,  he  would  have  left  our  army  without  aid,  to 
be  destroyed  by  rebels.  Just  at  this  high  juncture, 
when  the  Government  needed  every  man  it  could  get 
to  fill  up  our  decimated  ranks,  so  fearfully  thinned 
out  by  the  bloody  struggles  of  Vicksburg  and  Gettys- 
burg, this  Horatio  Seymour  higgled  and  haggled  with 
President  Lincoln  about  the  exact  apportionment  of  the 
quotas  of  the  several  districts,  as  a  pretext  for  the  vig- 
orous obstructions  to  the  filling  up  of  our  army,  which 
he  attempted  in  the  obvious  interest  of  the  rebel  army, 
now  flying  before  our  colors.  Lincoln's  reply  to  him, 
August  7,  1863,  was:  "I  can  't  consent  to  suspend  the 
draft  in  New  York,  as  you  request,  because,  among  other 
reasons,  time  is  important.  We  are  contending  with 
an  enemy  who  drives  every  able-bodied  man  he  can 
reach  into  his  ranks,  very  much  as  a  butcher  drives 
bullocks  into  a  slaughter-pen.  No  time  is  wasted,  no 
argument  is  used,  and  thus  they  soon  procure  an  army 
to  turn  upon  our  victorious  armies  in  the  field ;  and  if 
we  waste  time  to  obtain  a  court  decision  whether  a  law 
is  Constitutional,  which  requires  a  part  of  those  not  now 
in  the  service  to  go  to  the  aid  of  those  already  in  it, 
and  still  more,  to  determine  with  absolute  certainty 
that  we  are  to  get  those  who  are  to  go  in  the  exact  legal 
proportion  to  those  who  are  not  to  go,  our  cause  is  lost. 
My  purpose  is  to  be  just  and  Constitutional,  and  yet 


388.  Granville  Moody. 

practical,  in  discharging  the  duty  which  I  am  charged 
to  maintain,  the  unity  and  free  principles  of  our  com- 
mon country."  Thus  spoke  the  patriot  President  to 
the  traitorous  Copperhead  who  was  legging  for  Jeff 
Davis  and  Bob  Lee. 

A  man  with  half  an  eye  can  see  the  purpose  of 
Seymour.  He  intended  to  work  into  the  hands  of 
Jeff  Davis  and  Robert  Lee,  hinder  the  filling  up 
of  our  thinned-out  ranks,  and  give  the  rebels  time  to 
fill  up  theirs,  and  conquer  us  at  last.  The  only  part 
of  the  country  where  Seymour's  nomination  is  hailed 
with  satisfaction  is  in  the  South,  among  unrepentant 
rebels,  whose  treasonable  work  he  sustained  so  far  as  his 
timid  nature  dared.  They  know  their  man,  and  they 
know  Frank  Blair  and  his  Calhoun  Nullification  Broad- 
head  letter,  and  its  principles  as  transformed  into  the 
Democratic  platform ;  and  they  exult  over  the  remote 
possibility  which  their  eager  desire  converts  into  a 
hope  of  his  election.  With  the  election  of  Seymour 
and  Blair  they  boldly  boast  that  the  "Lost  Cause" 
would  be  regained,  and  every  vote  cast  for  Seymour  is, 
ignorantly,  designedly,  o'r  recklessly,  a  vote  cast  for 
the  supremacy  of  our  traitorous,  rebellious  public 
enemies. 

You  may  remember  that  on  the  5th  of  December, 
1 8 14,  there  was  a  convention  that  met  in  the  city  of 
Hartford,  Connecticut.  Among  other  things  they  re- 
solved on  was  "a  cessation  of  hostilities  with  Great 
Britain,"  almost  in  the  same  words  in  which  the 
Democratic  Convention  in  Chicago,  with  Seymour  as 
its  president,  resolved  upon  peace  with  Southern  rebels 
in  arms.  Another  resolution  was,  "That  the  States 
represented  in  this  convention  take  measures  to  pro- 
tect their  citizens  from  forcible  drafts,  conscriptions, 
or  imprisonments  not  authorized  by  the  Constitution 


In  Civil  Life.  389 

of  the  United  States;"  and  Seymour  seems  to  have 
plagiarized  the  very  terms  in  which  these  white- 
livered,  timid,  shivering  traitors  of  the  Hartford  Con- 
vention sought  the  overthrow  of  our  National  rights 
in  that  great  struggle  with  our  red-coated  British 
enemies  and  black-hearted  Tories  in  our  own  land. 
Ah !  he  is  the  true,  lineal  descendant  of  the  Hartford 
Convention  Tories  of  18 14,  the  Rip  Van  Winkle  of  that 
cabal,  doomed  to  eternal  infamy,  and  now  risen  to  be 
the  leader  of  the  Copperheads  and  Ku-Klux  Democ- 
racy to  their  utter  destruction  on  the  3d  of  November ; 
and  let  every  patriotic  heart  exclaim,  "  So  mote  it  be  !" 

This  Seymour,  with  Vallandigham,  the  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  secret,  oath-bound,  traitorous  society, 
called  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  and  all  that 
kith  and  kin,  are  Jacobins  of  the  French  school  of  dema- 
gogues. For  what,  I  ask  you,  was  the  Jacobin  ?  Let 
Webster's  Unabridged  answer:  "So  named  from  the 
place  of  meeting,  which  was  the  monastery  of  the 
monks  called  'Jacobins.'"  The  Jacobins  of  France, 
during  the  Revolution  of  1798,  held  secret  meetings,  in 
which  measures  were  concocted  to  direct  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  National  Assembly.  Hence,  the  Jacobin 
is  the  member  of  a  club,  or  other  person,  who  opposes 
government  in  a  secret  and  unlawful  manner,  or  by 
violent  means — a  turbulent  demagogue.  "Jacobinism 
is  unreasonable  or  violent  opposition  to  legitimate 
government,  by  secret  cabal  or  irregular  means — 
popular  turbulence." 

What  a  picture  of  the  Democracy  of  our  land  in 
1864-65,  headed  by  Vallandigham  and  his  special  de- 
fender and  apologist,  Horatio  Seymour,  and  in  closest 
sympathy  with  "  monks  "  of  every  order  and  name  in 
America,  and  operating  against  our  Government  by 
means  of  secret  political  societies  of  which  Lafayette 


390  Granville  Moody. 

warned  our  citizens  in  his  farewell  address,  saying 
"Mark  my  words  well;  if  ever  your  glorious  Govern- 
ment is  overthrown,  it  will  be  by  secret,  oath-bound 
political  societies." 

Yes,  Forrest,  of  Fort  Pillow  infamy,  said  just  seven 
weeks  ago,  "I  can  toot  my  horn  and  call  out  four 
hundred  thousand  Ku-Klux  in  a  week."  These,  with 
the  members  of  the  still  existing  and  secretly  operat- 
ing Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  in  the  North,  under 
Vallandigham,  threaten  the  very  liberties  and  life 
of  our  Government;  and  let  Seymour  and  Blair  be 
elected,  and  Jacobinism  become  triumphant,  and  our 
Government  goes  down  amid  the  crash  of  arms  in  a 
sea  of  blood. 

This  same  Seymour,  of  date  of  May  10,  1863, 
wrote  a  letter  about  the  arrest  of  the  thrice  convicted 
traitor,  Vallandigham,  in  which  he  says:  "It  involves 
a  series  of  offenses  against  our  most  sacred  rights. 
If  this  proceeding  is  approved  by  the  Goverment,  it  is 
not  only  a  step  toward  revolution,  it  is  revolution.  If 
it  is  upheld,  our  liberties  are  overthrown,"  etc.  Thus 
did  Seymour,  whilst  governor  of  New  York,  side  with 
Vallandigham,  and  demand  his  freedom  from  arrest, 
to  go,  like  Samson's  foxes,  spreading  the  fire  of  ruin 
through  all  our  land.  No  wonder  that  Vallandigham 
nominated  Seymour  for  President  in  the  Democratic 
Convention  in  New  York.  He  was  only  paying  back 
the  kindness  and  public  sympathy  which  Seymour 
showed  to  him  in  1863,  as  a  "true  yoke-fellow"  in  the 
infamous  Jacobinical  enterprise  of  legging  for  rebels 
in  our  life-and-death  struggle  with  them.  O  shame  ! 
shame!  to  ask  patriots  to  vote  for  such  a  man,  with  such 
a  damning  record,  to  fill  the  high,  yea,  the  highest  post 
of  influence  in  a  Government  to  which  they  were  so 
heartlessly  false.     Did  not  this  Seymour  know   that 


In  Civil  Life.  391 

after  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  and  whilst  it  was  (un- 
officially) known  that  the  treaty  of  peace  was  con- 
cluded, General  Jackson  still  maintained  martial  law? 
During  that  period  a  Mr.  L,ouillier  (almost  as  ugly  a 
name  as  Vallandigham)  published  a  denunciatory  news- 
paper article.  General  Jackson  arrested  him.  A  law- 
yer, by  the  name  of  Morel,  induced  the  United  States 
judge,  Hall,  to  order  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  relieve 
Mr.  Louillier ;  and  General  Jackson  arrested  both  the 
lawyer  and  the  judge.  A  Mr.  Hollander  (another  Val- 
landighamer)  ventured  to  say  "it  was  a  dirty  trick," 
and  General  Jackson  arrested  him.  When  the  officer 
undertook  to  serve  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  the  gen- 
eral took  it  from  him,  and  sent  him  away  with  a  copy. 
Holding  Judge  Hall  in  custody  a  few  days,  General 
Jackson  sent  him  beyond  the  lines  of  his  encamp- 
ment, and  set  him  at  liberty,  with  an  order  to  remain 
out  until  the  ratification  of  peace  was  regularly 
announced.  A  few  days  after  peace  was  declared, 
Judge  Hall  called  General  Jackson  into  his  court 
and  fined  him  one  thousand  dollars  for  having  arrested 
him.  The  general  paid  the  fine,  and  thirty  years  after- 
ward the  Congress  of  the  United  States  passed  a  bill 
to  refund  the  fine,  principal  and  interest,  to  General 
Jackson,  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas  took  a  leading  part 
in  the  Constitutional  and  judicial  questions  which  were 
debated,  favoring  and  voting  for  the  bill. 

It  may  be  remarked,  that  we  had  the  same  Con- 
stitution then  as  during  the  late  Rebellion.  Then  there 
was  an  invasion.  In  186 1-5  we  had  a  Rebellion. 
The  rights  of  the  people  (for  liberty  is  not  license  to 
cripple  the  Government  struggling  for  its  rights  and 
life)  suffered  no  detriment  by  the  conduct  of  General 
Jackson,  or  its  subsequent  approval  by  the  American 
Congress.     Had    Seymour,    Vallandigham,    Milligan, 


392 


Granville  Moody. 


Dodd,  and  Voorhees  been  there,  they  would  have  been 
denouncing  Old  Hickory  as  violently  as  they  de- 
nounced President  Lincoln,  and  would  have  been 
the  chief  actors  in  the  Hartford  Convention.  Ah 
how  history  repeats  itself !  Truly,  there  is  nothing 
new  under  the  sun. 

The  policy  of  sending  disloyal  persons  beyond  the 
lines  has  high  Revolutionary  authority.  In  1778,  the 
darkest  period  of  the  Revolution,  when  thousands 
were  for  making  peace  with  Great  Britain,  just  as  the 
so-called  convention  of  the  Democracy  at  Chicago,  with 
Seymour  as  president,  were  for  making  peace  with 
our  Southern  rebels,  the  Legislature  of  New  York 
(Seymour  was  not  there)  passed  a  bill  directed  against 
those  who  "ungratefully  and  insidiously,  by  artful 
misrepresentations,  and  a  subtle  dissemination  of  doc- 
trines, fears,  and  apprehensions,  false  'in  themselves 
and  injurious  to  the  American  cause  [this  would  do  ex- 
actly for  an  indictment  against  Vallandigham,  Seymour, 
and  the  so-called  Democracy  of  1861-65-68],  se- 
duced certain  weak-minded  persons  from  the  duty  they 
owe  to  their  country  ;  therefore,  be  it  enacted  :  1.  That 
all  such  men  be  required  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
as  hereinafter  prescribed.  2.  That  if  any  refuse  to  take 
the  oath,  they  shall  be  removed  to  within  the  enemy's 
lines.  3.  That  if  they  afterward  return,  they  shall  be 
adjudged  guilty  of  misprision  of  treason." 

Hundreds  of  Tories  were  sent  out  of  the  State, 
their  property  confiscated,  and  themselves  banished  as 
public  enemies  to  liberty  and  the  Government.  So 
again  in  our  day  we  see  the  same  kind  of  men.  His- 
tory repeats  itself;  but  we  never  learned  that  the  Val- 
landighams,  Voorheeses,  and  Seymours  of  that  day  had 
the  impudence  to  run  for  Congress  or  the  Presidency 
of  the    United    States.     That    folly   and    crime   was 


In  Civil  L,ife.  393 

reserved  to  cap  the  climax  of  the  Slaveholders'  Re- 
bellion. 

And  now,  with  Frank  Blair's  Brodhead  letter  be- 
fore us,  on  which  he  secured  the  nomination,  we  may 
forecast  the  immediate  future.  Blair  says:  "  There  is 
but  one  way  to  restore  the  Government  [to  rebels] 
and  the  Constitution,  and  that  is  for  the  President- 
elect [Seymour]  to  declare  these  Reconstruction  Laws 
of  Congress  null  and  void  [the  Democratic  platform 
also  declares  this],  and  compel  the  army  to  undo  its 
usurpations  at  the  South,  disperse  the  carpet-bag  State 
governments,  etc.,  and  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  com- 
pel the  Senate  to  submit  once  more  to  the  obligations 
of  the  Constitution.  I  repeat  that  this  is  the  real 
and  only  question  which  we  should  allow  to  control 
us.  We  must  have  a  President  who  will  execute  the 
will  of  the  people,  by  trampling  into  the  dust  the  usur- 
pations of  Congress,  known  as  the  Reconstruction  Acts. 
I  wish  to  stand  before  the  convention  on  this  issue." 

Now,  I  declare  and  charge  before  the  great  tribu- 
nal of  American  history  and  law,  and  before  the 
civilized  world,  that  the  above  utterances  are  rank 
with  treason ;  that  John  C.  Calhoun,  the  arch  traitor 
of  1832,  who  shrank  abashed  before  the  indignant 
patriotism  of  General  Jackson,  never  uttered  more 
treason  than  is  exhibited  in  this  letter  of  Frank  Blair, 
and  fully  indorsed  by  a  similar  declaration  in  the 
platform  of  the  so-called  Democracy,  as  dictated  by 
Wade  Hampton  in  these  words:  "And  we  regard  the 
Reconstruction  Acts  (so-called)  of  Congress,  as  such, 
usurpations  and  unconstitutional,  revolutionary  and 
void." 

Ah!  this  is  South  Carolina  nullification  gone  to 
seed.  I  say  this  is  bald  treason,  coupled  with  the 
threat  of  violence,  on  the   simple   condition   that  the 


394  Granville  Moody. 

Democracy  gain  power  on  the  fast  coming  third  of 
November.  This  is  war  to  the  knife,  and  the  knife 
to  the  hilt !  This  is  the  issue.  Wade  Hampton, 
Forrest,  Vance,  and  the  Southern  delegates  to  the 
New  York  Convention,  went  home  exultant  and 
shouting  the  victory,  saying  with  Vance  :  "The  South 
will  gain  by  the  election  of  Seymour  and  Blair  all  it 
fought  for  during  four  long  and  bloody  years."  It 
was  this  very  Vance  who,  on  the  edge  of  battle,  told 
his  men  to  "  rush  on  the  Yankees,  and  fill  hell  so  full 
of  the  damned  blue-bellies  that  their  feet  will  stick  out 
of  the  windows."  Wade  Hampton,  on  his  way  to  the 
New  York  Convention,  said  at  Robert  L,ee's  college 
in  Virginia:  "The  cause  for  which  Stonewall  Jackson 
fought  can  not  be  in  vain,  but  will  yet  triumph  in 
some  form."  And  they  expect  its  triumph  by  the 
election  of  Seymour  and  Blair.  But  He  that  sitteth 
in  the  heavens  shall  laugh  at  them. 

On  the  occasion  of  decorating  the  graves  of 
soldiers  buried  in  the  cemetery  at  Washington 
C.  H.,  Ohio,  in  1881,  the  author  delivered  the  fol- 
lowing address : 

Fellow-citizens,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  — 
I  thank  your  committee  for  affording  me  this  oppor- 
tunity of  addressing  you  on  Decoration-day,  with  our 
heavens  all  sunshine,  and  our  earth  all  bloom.  My 
selected  theme  for  this  auspicious  hour  is,  "  Patriotism, 
the  Highest  Civic  Virtue."  Patriotism  is  love  of 
one's  native  or  adopted  country.  It  is  that  passion 
which  aims  to  serve  one's  country;  in  advancing 
its  welfare,  its  honor,  its  power  as  a  commonwealth, 
by  maintaining  its  laws  and  institutions  in  vigor 
and  purity,  and  by  protecting  its  rights ;  by   defend- 


In  Civil  Life.  395 

ing  it  from  invasion,  and  preserving  it  from  over- 
throw by  internal  antagonisms,  which  may  threaten 
its  peace  or  prosperity.  This  patriotism  is  the  charac- 
teristic of  a  good  citizen.  It  is  the  noblest  passion 
that  animates  man,  in  the  character  or  relation  of  a 
citizen ;  and  we  may  well  ask, 

"Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead, 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said, 
This  is  my  own,  my  native  land  ?" 

We  candidly  confess  that  we  have  no  sympathy  with 
that  pretended  civism  or  cosmopolitanism  which, 
under  pretense  of  love  to  all  men,  would  extinguish 
our  love  for  our  own  country.  Such  persons  ask 
superciliously,  "  Why  should  I  love  my  cisatlantic 
comrades  more  than  my  transatlantic  fellow-men?" 
This  hollow  question  may  be  answered  by  propound- 
ing a  solid  question,  "  Why  should  I  love  my  own 
family  more  than  the  family  of  my  neighbor?"  The 
answer  is,  Your  own  family  is  your  own  family,  and 
has  special  relationships  to  you  and  claims  upon  you, 
such  as  no  other  family  has,  or  can  have,  or  should 
have.  God  designed  it  so,  and  formed  our  nature  for 
the  reciprocation  of  such  particular  affections.  They 
arise  from  the  very  nature  of  things,  and  from  associa- 
tion of  ideas  innate  in  our  nature.  And  the  reasons 
why  one  should  love  his  own  family  more  than  the 
family  of  his  neighbor,  are  the  reasons  why  he  should 
love  his  own  nation  more  than  any  other  nation.  And 
this  particular  affection  is  not  inconsistent  with  the 
highest  good-will  for  every  other  nation,  and  for  the 
widest  philanthropy  as  well.  With  entire  confidence, 
then,  we  may  affirm  that  our  country  is  worth  our 
highest  regards.  This  will  appear  with  prominence 
and  emphasis  when  we  but  glance, — First.  At  our  origin 


396  Granville  Moody. 

as  citizens.  Bancroft,  the  great  historian,  says  that 
"  God  sifted  seven  great  nations  of  Europe  to  get  the 
purest  seed,  with  which  to  sow  this  great  Republic." 
Second.  At  their  enterprise  to  "  found  a  Church  with- 
out a  prelate,  and  a  State  without  a  king,"  thus  sav- 
ing themselves  and  us  from  priestcraft  and  kingcraft 
at  once.  Third.  At  their  intelligent  appreciation  of 
the  rights  of  man,  God-given,  inherent  and  inalien- 
able, and  their  declaration  that  governments  among 
men  are  instituted  to  preserve  these  rights,  and  that 
it  is  their  duty  to  change  the  government  when  it  fails 
to  secure  these  rights.  Fourth.  At  their  bold  avowal 
of  their  rights,  despite  the  frowns  of  the  most  puis- 
sant potentate  of  earth.  They  did  not  hesitate  to 
throw  down  the  gauntlet  of  war  at  the  feet  of  Great 
Britain,  and  pledge  their  all  on  the  great  issue  taken. 
Fifth.  At  their  sacrifices  and  achievements  during  the 
Revolution,  the  War  of  181 2,  the  War  with  Mexico 
in  1847-49,  and  the  War  of  1861-65  f°r  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  Slaveholders'  Rebellion.  Sixth.  At  their 
marvelous  wisdom  in  constituting  our  indissoluble 
and  invincible  nationality. 

"These  were  our  patriot  sires',  and  belong 
To  them;  theirs  is  the  palm-branch  and  renown. 
Conquerors,  and  yet  the  harbingers  of  peace, — 
Blessings  be  on  their  memory  and    their  work! 
We  give  their  names  in  charge  to  the  sweet  lyre ; 
The  historic  Muse,  proud  of  the  treasure, 
Marches  with  it  down  to  latest  times. 
And  Sculpture,  in  her  turn,  gives  bonds  in  stone 
And  everlasting  brass  to  guard  them  well, — 
Ay,  and  to  immortalize  her  trust!" 

Our  patriotism  gains  an  inspiration  while  we  con- 
sider the  grand  national  domain  which  Divine  Prov- 
idence has  committed  to  us,  in  trust,  with  usufructu- 
ary rights.     With  the  greatest  propriety  we  may  say 


In  Civil  Life.  397 

with  David,  whose  harp  was  mightier  than  his  sword, 
and  far  outlived  his  throne,  that  "  the  lines  have  fallen 
to  us  in  pleasant  places,  and  we  have  a  goodly  herit- 
age." De  Tocqueville  in  his  book  entitled  "Views  in 
America  as  It  Is,"  says:  "The  territory  embraced  by 
the  United  States  of  North  America  furnishes  the 
most  magnificent  home  for  man  that  is  to  be  found  on 
the  footstool  of  Almighty  God."  Thus  we  may  "see 
ourselves  as  others  see  us."  Ours  is  indeed  a  goodly 
land,  the  glory  of  all  lands,  with  a  national  domain 
stretching  from  the  St.  Lawrence  on  the  north,  to  the 
Rio  Grande  upon  the  south,  and  from  our  Atlantic  to 
our  Pacific  coasts ;  from  the  capes  of  the  Chesapeake 
to  the  Golden  Gates  of  California ;  a  country  equal  in 
size  to  all  of  Europe,  Russia  excepted ;  extending  from 
the  tropics  in  the  south  to  the  great  inland  seas  on  the 
north,  and  the  regions  of  the  highest  habitable  latitude 
among  the  icebergs  and  volcanoes  of  Alaska.  We  may 
say  of  our  ocean-bound  Republic,  as  classic  pen  de- 
scribed the  renowned  shield  of  Achilles: 

"Now  the  broad  shield  complete,  the  artist  crowned 
With  the  last  band,  and  poured  the  ocean  round; 
In  living  silver  seemed  the  waves  to  roll, 
And  beat  the  buckler's  verge  and  bound  the  whole." 

We  need  not  the  gold  of  Indus,  Ophir,  or  Africa,  nor 
the  spices  of  Arabia,  nor  Turkey's  fertile  soil,  nor  the 
mellow  skies  of  Italy,  nor  the  vine-clad  hills  of  France. 
Nor  would  we  have  the  population  of  these  countries, 
with  their  ignorance  and  priestcraft,  with  their  supersti- 
tions, degradations,  and  exactions.  No,  no !  We  pre- 
fer our  California,  with  her  inexhaustible  mines  of  gold; 
our  flower-embroidered  prairies  ;  our  grand  old  forests, 
with  almost  every  variety  of  timber;  our  towering 
mountain  ranges,  with  repose  written  upon  their  brows; 


398  Granville  Moody. 

our  fertile  valleys,  our  matchless  rivers,  our  capacious 
harbors,  our  rock-bound  coasts,  our  inland  seas,  our  vast 
coal-beds  of  every  variety  of  carboniferous  deposits, 
and  our  subterranean  petroleum  lakes,  by  which  we 
become,  through  the  channels  of  commerce,  "  the 
light  of  the  world." 

Let  an  intelligent,  candid,  and  considerate  for- 
eigner land  in  New  York,  and  go  in  an  omnibus,  which 
carries  fifty  persons,  to  his  hotel,  which  accom- 
modates six  hundred  guests,  and  survey  our  great 
maritime  metropolis  from  the  Battery  or  Castle  Gar- 
den to  Harlem  River,  with  its  streets  ten  miles  in 
length,  and  its  population  of  two  millions  of  citizens. 
Then  let  him  enter  the  parlor  of  a  Pullman  car,  and 
glide  away  and  away  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun, 
and  then  find  himself  at  Buffalo,  still  within  the  boun- 
daries of  the  State  of  New  York.  Let  him  then  stop, 
and  say  with  Shakespeare,  "I  will  take  mine  ease  at 
mine  inn."  Then,  at  early  dawn,  let  him  take  steam- 
cars  again,  and  go  thundering  along  the  route  of  the 
railway  through  Ohio  and  Indiana  to  Chicago,  in  Illi- 
nois, and  find  two  days  employed  in  the  transit  of 
three  States.  Then,  by  the  matchless  Chicago  and 
North-western  Railway,  let  him  roll  westward  over 
verdant  Illinois,  whose  bending  willows,  in  length- 
ened lines,  seem  like  the  picket-guards  of  an  army 
with  banners.  Let  him  cross  the  "Father  of  Waters" 
at  Clinton,  and  open  his  eyes  in  very  wonderment  as 
he  enters  Iowa,  with  her  wide-spread  beauties  in  the 
leafy  month  of  June,  and  gaze  on  your  rolling  prairies 
and  golden  harvests,  and  wonder  if  it  is  a  vision  of 
the  far-off  Glory  Land,  born  in  the  dreams  of  night ; 
or  if  he  has,  indeed,  passed  the  boundary  between  ter- 
restrial and  celestial  climes. 


In  Civil  Life. 


399 


No,  my  entranced  Englishman,  this  is  not  heaven; 
it  is  only  Greene  County,  Iowa.  Sobered  down,  let 
him  still  speed  along  the  Bowyer  River,  on  to  Council 
Bluffs,  and  over  the  Missouri  River ;  and  passing 
Omaha  westward  still  to  Cheyenne,  through  Nebraska 
and  Wyoming ;  and  on  to  Salt  Lake  City  and  Tacoma, 
Nevada  Territory;  to  the  Humboldt  River;  Reno, 
Summit,  Colfax,  Lincoln,  Sacramento;  and  by  Santa 
Clara  on  to  San  Francisco,  at  whose  Golden  Gates  he 
is  to  stop,  as  if  at  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  see 
the  golden  glories  of  the  sun,  as  he  is  apparently 
bathed  in  Pacific  waves,  whose  glowing  smiles  seem 
to  welcome  him.  And  now  our  wearied  tourist  stops, 
and  sees  the  ancient  motto,  " Ne  Phis  Ultra"  trans- 
ferred to  the  Golden  Gates  of  San  Francisco. 

It  is  our  rejoicing  that  over  all  this  vast  domain 
our  glorious  banner  floats  to-day,  in  unquestioned  and 
unquestionable  supremacy.  Proudly  the  old  Roman 
said,  "I  am  a  Roman  citizen;"  and  with  purer  pride, 
and  broader  warrant  for  it,  every  American  may  say : 
"I  am  an  American  citizen;  a  citizen  of  the  great 
Republic. " 

It  was  a  fable  that  the  waters  of  Castalia  made 
him  who  drank  of  them  a  poet.  But  it  is  a  sober  truth, 
that  he  who  catches  the  spirit  of  our  pioneers,  states- 
men, heroes,  and  defenders,  is  a  patriot,  and  the 
highest  civic  honor  blushes  on  his  brow.  Our  pa- 
triotism will  be  augmented  when  we  consider  our 
population  in  its  characteristics  and  its  wondrous 
increase.  A  condensed,  prophetic  representation  of 
the  world's  history,  by  Noah,  declared  that  "  God 
shall  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents 
of  Shem,  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant."  How 
wonderfully  has  this  been  fulfilled!     The  Greeks,  the 


4oo  Granville  Moody. 

Macedonians,  the  Romans,  all  Europe,  Asia  Minor, 
the  Gauls,  the  Germans,  and  Celts — indeed,  nearly  all 
the  inhabitants  of  Europe — are  of  Japheth,  and  nearly 
all  the  inhabitants  of  America  have  descended  from 
Japheth.  The  American  citizen  is  the  representative 
of  nearly  all  the  descendants  of  Japheth,  and  we  find 
the  mingled  peculiarities  of  Saxon  and  Norman,  Ger- 
man, Scotchman,  Irishman,  Spaniard,  Italian,  with 
probably  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  At  the  formation 
of  this  Government,  in  1789,  our  census  showed  but 
three  and  one-half  millions  of  people.  To-day  we  are 
largely  over  fifty  millions  of  souls — a  people  reared 
amongst  scenes  of  great  natural  beauty  and  sublimity, 
developing  daily  an  advancing  Christian  civilization, 
and  gaining  in  wealth  beyond  all  parallel,  having  the 
principles  of  personal,  civil,  and  religious  liberty 
deeply  imbedded  in  their  convictions,  desires,  determi- 
nations, and  avowed  in  our  National  Constitution.  Our 
agricultural,  mechanical  and  commercial  enterprises 
are  making  us  at  once  the  wonder  and  marvel  and  envy 
of  the  world,  prompting  the  grateful  acknowledgment 
that  David  made  when  he  exclaimed  concerning  the 
united  tribes  of  Israel:  "God  hath  not  dealt  so 
with  any  nation !"  No  people  in  the  world  have 
such  reasons  for  patriotism  and  gratitude  to  God  as 
we  have. 

"  Westward  the  course  of  Empire  takes  its  way.  .  .  . 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  his  last." 

The  political  compact  between  the  thirteen  colo- 
nies, known  as  "Articles  of  Confederation,"  had  ac- 
complished its  brief  mission ;  its  principal  powers 
respected  the  operations  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain, 
and  acquired  this  power  only  by  the  outside  pressure 
of  the   war   with  England,   but  became  dormant   in 


In  Civil  Life.  401 

times  of  peace,  and  even  its  apparent  powers  were  but 
shadowy  and  unsubstantial, 

"As  is  the  shade 
By  the  light  quivering  aspen  made," 

since  those  "Articles  of  Confederation"  were  devoid 
of  all  coercive  authority. 

By  this  political  compact  the  Continental  Congress 
might  make  and  conclude  treaties,  but  could  only 
recommend  the  observance  of  them.  They  might 
appoint  ambassadors,  but  they  could  not  pay  their 
board-bills  at  a  third-rate  tavern.  They  might  borrow 
money  in  their  own  name,  on  the  faith  of  the  Union, 
but  they  could  not  pay  a  dollar.  They  might  coin 
money,  but  they  could  not  import  bullion.  They 
might  make  war  and  determine  what  number  of 
troops  were  necessary,  but  they  could  not  raise  a 
single  soldier.  In  short,  the  Continental  Congress, 
under  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  might  declare 
everything,  but  they  could  do  nothing.  All  such  a 
Congress  could  do  was  to  recommend  their  measures 
to  the  good-will  of  the  States;  but  their  measures  de- 
pended solely  upon  the  pleasure  of  the  States ;  and, 
in  point  of  fact,  many  of  the  most  important  measures 
of  the  Continental  Congress  were  silently  or  sullenly 
disregarded  by  the  States,  or  slowly  and  reluctantly 
obeyed.  And  some  of  them  were  openly  derided  by 
some  of  the  States,  and  as  openly  and  boldly  refused 
to  be  executed.  With  all  that,  Congress  had  no 
power  to  punish  individuals  or  States  for  any  breach 
of  their  enactments.  Their  laws  were  without  any  penal 
sanction,  and  so  amounted  merely  to  advice.  The 
citizens  obeyed  when  convenient,  and  cared  but  little 
for  persuasions  and  less  for  conscientious  or  patriotic 
obligations.     Moreover,  that  Congress  had  no  power 

34 


402  Granville  Moody. 

to  imposes  taxes,  or  to  collect  a  revenue  for  the  public 
services.  All  that  Congress  could  do,  was  to  make  an 
estimate  of  the  amount  needed  for  the  public  service, 
and  then  to  apportion  it  out  to  the  States  to  be  paid. 
After  1783  the  States  relapsed  into  utter  indiffer- 
ence on  this  subject,  and  Congressional  requisitions  on 
the  States,  to  pay  even  the  interest  on  the  public  debt 
created  to  resist  England,  were  openly  disregarded. 
Appeal  on  appeal  was  made  in  vain,  and-  the  Con- 
gressional treasury  had  not  one  dollar  in  it.  Its  credit 
was  gone;  public  burdens  were  increasing;  public 
faith  was  openly  violated  and  prostrated.  Withal, 
Congress  had  no  power  to  regulate  commerce  among 
the  States  or  with  foreigners.  So  that  between  the 
States  there  sprang  up  jealousies,  rivalries,  and  re- 
sentments, which  evinced  the  immediate  danger  of 
warfare  between  contiguous  States,  and  the  peace 
and  safety  of  this  Union  were  made  dependent  on  the 
measures  of  the  States,  over  which  this  emasculate 
General  Government  had  not  the  slightest  control. 
Foreign  navigation  crippled  ours,  and  they  monopo- 
lized ours  as  well.  Our  sailors  were  out  of  employ- 
ment; our  mechanics  were  ruined;  our  agriculture 
was  profitless ;  what  little  money  was  in  the  country 
went  abroad  to  supply  our  needs,  and  the  state  of 
things  was  more  calamitous  than  war,  and  was  pro- 
gressively crowding  us  to  ruin.  Weary,  doleful  years 
were  spent  in  begging  the  States  to  give  more  power 
to  Congress ;  but  the  predominance  of  State  jealous- 
ies, and  the  incompatibility  of  State  interests  with 
each  other,  prevailed.  The  Government  became  im- 
becile, and  tottered  to  its  fall;  and  the  only  question 
was,  Shall  we  stand  silently  by  and  see  it  fall,  or 
rouse,  and  by  true  patriotism  form  a  more  efficient  Gen- 
eral Government,  before  the  great  interests  of  the  Union 


In  Civil  Life.  403 

should  be  buried  beneath  its  fall  and  ruins,  as  when 
the  lords  of  the  Philistines  perished  with  Samson? 

In  1785,  Maryland  and  Virginia  sent  commission- 
ers to  Alexandria,  to  make  arrangements  and  regula- 
tions for  the  navigation  of  the  Potomac,  oyster-beds, 
fishing,  duck-shooting,  etc.  But  feeling  the  inade- 
quacy of  their  powers,  they  recommended  enlarged 
proceedings.  In  1786  the  Virginia  Legislature  pro- 
posed a  convention  of  commissioners  from  all  the 
States,  to  consider  all  the  interests  involved  and  im- 
periled, and  secure  common  interests  and  permanent 
harmony.  Pursuant  to  this,  five  States  sent  commis- 
sioners to  Annapolis.  They  framed  a  report  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  advising  it  to  summon  a  gen- 
eral convention  of  commissioners  from  all  the  States 
(thirteen),  to  meet  in  Philadelphia  in  May,  1787. 
Congress  agreed,  and  passed  a  resolution  to  call  a 
convention.  All  the  States,  except  Rhode  Island,  re- 
sponded favorably,  and  elected  delegates,  and  they 
met  in  Philadelphia.  After  protracted  discussions  and 
great  diversities  of  opinions,  they,  after  prayer  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Duche,  framed  the  present  Constitution,  and  rec- 
ommended it  to  be  laid,  by  the  Congress,  before  the 
people  of  the  several  States,  to  be  by  them  considered 
and  ratified  in  conventions  of  the  representatives  of 
the  people,  to  be  called  for  that  purpose.  This  was 
effected.  Conventions  were  accordingly  called  in  all 
the  States,  except  Rhode  Island,  and  after  warm  dis- 
cussions, pro  and  con,  the  Constitution  was  ratified  by 
all  of  them,  except  Rhode  Island  and  North  Carolina. 

The  assent  of  only  nine  States  being  required  on 
the  passage  before  the  people,  Congress  took  meas- 
ures for  this  purpose  in  September,  1787,  as  soon  as 
the  requisite  ratifications  were  completed.  Elections 
of  President  and  Vice-President  were  secured,  and  the 


404  Granville  Moody. 

necessary  elections  of  senators  and  representatives 
being  made,  the  first  Congress  under  the  Constitution 
assembled  in  New  York,  then  the  seat  of  government, 
on  Wednesday,  the  fourth  day  of  March,  1789,  for 
commencing  proceedings  under  the  new  Constitution. 
A  quorum  of  both  Houses,  however,  did  not  assemble 
until  the  6th  of  April,  when,  the  votes  of  the  electors 
being  counted,  it  was  found  that  George  Washington 
was  unanimously  elected  President,  and  John  Adams 
was  elected  Vice-President.  On  the  30th  of  April, 
President  Washington  was  sworn  into  office,  and  the 
new  Government  immediately  went  into  operation. 
In  the  November  following,  in  a  new  convention, 
North  Carolina  adopted  the  Constitution.  In  May, 
1790,  Rhode  Island,  in  her  State  Convention  of  the 
people,  also  adopted  the  Constitution.  So  that  all  the 
thirteen  States,  by  the  authority  of  the  people  thereof, 
finally  became  parties  of,  to,  and  under  the  new  Gov- 
ernment. Thus  was  achieved  another  and  a  still 
more  glorious  triumph  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  even 
greater  than  that  by  which  we  were  separated  from 
the  odious  tyranny  of  England.  The  people  of  the 
States  made  the  new  Government,  which  constituted 
them  a  Nation  among  the  nations  of  the  world. 

To  those  great  men,  who  achieved  this  victory 
over  State  sovereignty,  State  jealousies,  local  inter- 
ests, disunited  counsels,  and  the  unwillingness  of 
selfish  and  narrow-minded  politicians  to  submit  to 
wholesome  restraints  which  the  permanent  security  of 
liberty  demanded,  we  owe  our  all  as  a  Nation.  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Georgia  adopted  the  Constitu- 
tion unanimously ;  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  Mary- 
land, and  South  Carolina,  by  large  majorities ;  Massa- 
chusetts, New  York,  and  Virginia,  by  bare  majorities. 
Many  of  the  pure  and  disinterested  patriots  who  stood 


In  Civil  Life.  405 

forth  for  this  change  from  a  mere  confederation  of 
sovereign  States  into  an  indivisible  nationality,  did  so 
at  the  expense  of  their  existing  popularity.  They 
had  a  higher  duty  to  perform  than  to  natter  the  preju- 
dice of  the  people,  or  to  subserve  personal,  selfish, 
sectional,  or  local  interests.  Many  of  them  went 
down  to  their  graves  without  the  satisfaction  or  con- 
solation of  knowing  that  their  sacrifices  were  appre- 
ciated. On  a  close  survey  of  their  labors,  as  devel- 
oped in  the  structure  of  the  Constitution,  we  are 
compelled  to  admire  their  wisdom,  sagacity,  and  fore- 
cast, to  be  impressed  with  their  profound  love  of 
liberty,  to  feel  their  sense  of  the  value  of  political 
responsibility,  and  to  glory  in  their  high  resolve  to 
give  perpetuity,  as  well  as  energy,  to  the  Republican 
institutions  of  their  country  ; 

"  To  scatter  plenty  o'er  a  smiling  land, 
And  read  their  history  in  a  nation's  eyes." 

Truly  there  were  giants  in  those  days,  as  high 
above  the  demagogues  of  their  times  as  the  heavens 
are  above  the  earth.  Compared  with  their  contempo- 
rary opponents,  or  the  spawn  of  those  opponents, 
who  by  metempsychosis  have  reappeared  in  our  times, 
advocating  absolute  State  sovereignty,  we  may  but 
observe  that 

"Pigmies  are  pigmies  still,  though  perched  on  Alps, 
And  pyramids  are  pyramids  in  vales." 

For  the  narrow-minded  men  with  whom  they  had 
to  contend  prated  about  their  pretended  sovereignty 
of  States,  and  would  have  set  up  private  and  local  in- 
terests at  the  sacrifice  of  the  general  welfare.  The 
demagogues  of  that  day  have  reappeared  in  our  own 
day,  and  of  them  Goldsmith's  criticism  is  true,  that 
they  "to  party  give  up  what  was  meant  for  mankind." 


406  Granville  Moody. 

That  the  framing  and  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  constituted  us  one  grand  nation, 
is  the  central  pillar  of  our  Nation's  glory,  and  grate- 
fully and  proudly  we  may  say  of  our  National  motto, 
' '  E  Pluribus  U?ium  : ' ' 

"  We  are  '  many  in  one '  whilst  there  glitters  a  star 

In  the  blue  of  the  heavens  above, 
And  tyrants  shall  quail  'mid  their  minions  afar, 

When  they  gaze  on  that  motto  of  love. 
Though  the  old  Alleghanies  may  tower  to  heaven, 

And  the  Father  of  Waters  divide, 
The  links  of  our  destiny  can  not  be  riven 

Whilst  the  truth  of  those  words  shall  abide." 

The  union  of  these  States  in  our  glorious,  su- 
preme, and  efficient  nationality  was  an  absolute  neces- 
sity, as  seen  in  contrast  with  the  condition  of  affairs 
under  the  former  Articles  of  Confederation.  Our  pa- 
triot sires  so  regarded  it,  and  their  condition  then,  and 
our  condition  now,  alike  demand  the  perpetuity  of  our 
glorious,  undivided,  and  indivisible  National  existence. 
In  the  preamble  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
our  fathers  say  :  "We,  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  jus- 
tice, insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  com- 
mon defense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity, 
do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  of  America."  This  Constitution  sets  forth  the 
National  supremacy  in  express  terms,  and  in  words  as 
strong  as  Holy  Writ. 

In  Article  VI,  item  second  declares  :  "This  Consti- 
tution, and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall 
be  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made, 
or  which  shall  be  made,  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land ; 
and  the  judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby, 


In  Civil  Life.  407 

anything  in  the  Constitution  or  in  the  laws  of  any- 
State,  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding."  "The  sen- 
ators and  representatives,  and  the  members  of  the 
several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and  judi- 
cial officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the 
several  States,  shall  be  bound  by  an  oath  or  affirma- 
tion to  support  the  Constitution."  Here,  then,  we  find 
no  loophole  for  secession.  Our  fathers  had  already 
had  bitter  experience  of  the  workings  of  a  mere  con- 
federacy of  sovereignties,  and  with  the  same  patriot- 
ism that  led  them  onward  through  the  seven  long 
years  of  bloody  strife  with  England,  they  felt  them- 
selves bound  to  secure  and  preserve  in  perpetuity  the 
priceless  boon  of  a  Government  of,  for,  and  by  the 
people.  The  noble  men  who,  under  God,  had  formed 
this  Nation  as  a  Nation,  made  provision  in  the  Consti- 
tution to  uphold  it  by  the  word  of  their  power  and 
the  patriotism  of  their  posterity. 

This  National  Union  was  the  creature  of  necessi- 
ties— physical,  ancestral,  internal,  external,  geograph- 
ical, circumstantial,  moral,  social,  political,  civil,  relig- 
ious, and  prospective,  and  must  endure  by  virtue 
of  the  same  necessities ;  and  these  necessities  are 
stronger  now  than  when  the  union  of  the  people  of 
all  the  States  into  one  grand  Nation  was  formed  at 
first.  They  are  stronger  by  the  vastly  greater  expanse 
of  domain  now  covered  by  its  sheltering  wings; 
stronger  by  the  thirteen  times  multiplied  citizens 
living  under  its  benign  influence ;  stronger  by  the  in- 
calculable increase  of  the  farms,  fields,  workshops, 
mines,  and  ships  of  the  Nation  ;  stronger  by  increased 
production  of  the  sea,  plow,  loom,  and  anvil ;  stronger 
by  the  grand  current  of  internal  and  international 
exchanges;  stronger  by  the  long  rivers,  penetrating 
regions  unknown  to  our  fathers,  but  now  the  inher- 


408  Granville  Moody. 

itance  of  their  sons ;  stronger  by  the  artificial  roads, 
canals,  and  channels  essential  to  trade  and  defense ; 
stronger  in  steam  navigation,  peculiarly  American, 
on  our  mighty  rivers,  where  the  hoarse  voice  of  the 
rushing  steamers  wakes  the  echoes  along  our  val- 
leys ;  stronger  in  steam  locomotion  on  our  great  land 
routes,  and  in  telegraphy,  which  annihilates  space 
and  binds  us  all  in  one;  stronger  in  the  freedom  of 
the  seas  and  the  empire  of  the  great  waters ;  stronger 
in  national  honor  in  all  lands ;  and  strongest  of  all  in 
the  settled  purpose  and  habit  of  veneration  and  affec- 
tion on  the  part  of  our  people  for  free  institutions  so 
stupendous  and  so  useful. 

The  union,  then,  of  these  States  in  one  nationality 
is  not  merely  because  men  chose  that  it  shall  be,  but 
because  some  supreme  General  Government  of  this 
vast  domain  must  have  dominion  here,  and  no  other 
government  than  this  may,  can,  might,  could,  should, 
or  shall  exist  on  this  wide  domain  which,  by  right, 
belongs  to  the  United  States.  Every  citizen  of  the 
Republic  has  life,  liberty,  and  the  lawful  pursuit  of  hap- 
piness, prosperity,  precious  remembrances,  and  fondest 
hopes  for  himself,  his  family,  his  countrymen,  and  his 
kind  on  board  this  old  Union  ship.  It  is  the  property  of 
each  citizen.  It  is  his  Government.  He  is  a  part  of  it. 
It  was  made  for  him,  and  is  maintained  by  him  ;  and 
he  knows  that  it  is  the  only  truly  wise,  beneficent 
Government  ever  devised  by  freemen.  It  is  his 
own  Government.  As  Mr.  Lincoln  wisely  and  nobly 
phrased  it,  "It  is  a  Government  of,  by,  and  for  the 
people,  and  it  should  not  be  permitted  to  perish  from 
the  earth."  The  severance  of  this  glorious  Govern- 
ment was  an  appalling  thought,  fearful  and  ruinous, 
as  would  be  the  repeal  of  the  law  of  gravitation  in  the 
physical  universe,  when  orbs   would    from  out   their 


In  Civil  Life.  409 

orbits  fly,  and  collisions,  destructions,  and  death  would 
follow  in  horrible  succession. 

Secession  is  dissolution,  and  dissolution  is  death. 
'Tis  the  violation  of  the  plighted  faith.  'Tis  the  set- 
ting up  of  a  private  interest  against  the  public  good. 
'Tis  an  effort  to  secure  a  partial  advantage  by  the 
sacrifice  of  the  general  welfare.  It  is  the  supreme 
evil,  and  affords  no  remedy  for  any  existing  evil. 
'Tis  the  ruin  against  which  Washington  warned  the 
Republic.  'Tis  the  hydra-monster  against  which 
Jackson  battled  all  his  life,  and,  dying,  bequeathed  the 
struggles,  with  his  sword,  to  his  nephew,  A.  J.  Don- 
elson,  with  the  injunction  to  use  it  for  the  Union. 
Secession  was  Pandora's  box;  and  worse,  for  despair 
was  in  the  bottom.  Secession  was  the  false  mother 
agreeing  to  the  division  of  the  living  child.  Secession, 
as  a  political  right,  was  a  claim  for  which  no  Govern- 
ment on  earth  ever  made  provision  ;  nor,  indeed,  could 
it  be  done.  Secession  was  studiously  avoided  and 
ignored  by  the  rebels  themselves  in  their  scheme  of 
self-aggrandizement.  Secession  was  an  effort  of  self- 
ishness, pride,  and  ambition  like  that  of  Satan,  which 
divided  heaven,  dug  hell,  and  drew  earth  from  its 
allegiance  to  the  throne  of  God. 

And  who  would  or  could  reconstruct  the  fabric 
of  a  demolished  Government  ?  Who  could  raise  again 
the  Corinthian  columns  of  Constitutional  liberty? 
And  if  these  columns  fall,  who  could  again  so  nicely 
adjust  National  Sovereignty  and  State  Rights  in  local 
interests  and  political  abeyance  ?  Alas  !  bitterer  tears 
than  ever  fell  over  the  fragments  of  Roman  or  Grecian 
art  would  fall  over  the  fragments  of  fallen  Constitu- 
tional liberty.  The  General  Government  was  not  a 
mere  league  of  sovereign  States,  dissoluble  at  will, 
but  a  complete  National  Government.     That  Consti- 

35 


410  Granville  Moody. 

tution  made  us  a  Nation,  with  all  the  characteristics  of 
a  Nation,  and  all  the  prerogatives  of  a  distinct  nation- 
ality over  all  the  territories  and  citizens  of  the  thir- 
teen Colonies,  and  equally  so  over  all  the  domain  we 
had  acquired,  or  may  yet  acquire.  Without  obliterat- 
ing the  previous  "colonial"  divisions,  our  fathers 
bound  them  round  by  an  all-comprising  and  perma- 
nent nationality.  L,ook  calmly  at  what  they  did. 
They  took  from  the  States  power  to  levy  armies,  to 
make  war  or  conclude  peace,  to  enter  into  treaties 
with  foreign  powers,  to  coin  money,  to  levy  imports. 
They  interlaced  the  whole  National  territory  with 
ramifications  of  our  vast  judicial  system,  centering 
in  the  city  of  Washington  as  the  seat  of  the  National 
authority.  They  completed  all  the  branches  of  a 
symmetrical  civil  authority — legal,  executive,  and  ju- 
dicial— and  without  making  one  syllable  of  provision 
for  the  withdrawal  of  an)'  of  the  parties  to  the  con- 
tract;  and  the  arrangement  expressly  declared  that 
no  State  should  pass  any  law  conflicting  with  the  laws 
of  the  United  States.  How  puerile  the  claim  of  State 
sovereignty !  Whatever  might  have  been  the  pur- 
pose of  the  framers  and  founders  of  our  Government, 
as  for  its  Constitution,  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to 
what  they  did.  Was  there  ever  an  instance  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  in  which  sovereign  and  independent 
States  or  powers  yielded  up  such  prerogatives  and 
functions  to  a  mere  transient  partnership,  dissoluble 
at  the  pleasure  or  caprice  of  any  single  one  or  more 
of  the  parties  ?  The  idea  is  in  the  last  degree  pre- 
posterous. 

Whether  they  meant  it  or  not,  our  fathers  framed 
a  Constitution,  a  Government  for  a  Nation  with  or- 
ganic life,  and  not  a  congeries  of  loosely  aggregated 
communities.     Rebels  and  traitors  talked  of  the  sov- 


In  Civil  Life. 


411 


ereign  States  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina;  and 
that,  too,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
by  which  they  were  constituted  a  Nation — a  unit, 
with  its  significant  motto,  "We  are  many  in  one" — 
one  supreme  nationality. 

What  sort  of  sovereign  State  was  that  which  could 
not  build  a  ship-of-war,  nor  a  fort,  nor  a  mint,  nor  an 
arsenal,  nor  a  custom-house,  nor  a  post-office  ?  which 
could  neither  send  nor  receive  an  ambassador?  whose 
very  name,  indeed,  might  be  as  utterly  unknown 
to  the  diplomacy  of  the  world  as  if  it  lay  in  the  planet 
Neptune,  or  swung  as  the  tail  of  the  last  comet? 
Was  that  a  sovereignty  to  be  proud  of?  Was  this 
that  which  the  haughty  Virginians,  the  chivalry  of  the 
Old  Dominion  and  the  sons  of  the  Huguenots,  de- 
lighted to  vow  a  permanent  allegiance  to?  No  won- 
der the  fanatical  and  stubborn  votary  of  State  sover- 
eignty chafes  under  a  system  whose  stern  and  stubborn 
fiats  stand  in  contemptuous  defiance  of  his  theory. 
Nor  had  the  South  any  pretense  for  secession  on  the 
ground  of  wrong  done  to  her  by  the  General  Gov- 
ernment. Under  the  shield  of  the  Constitution  slavery 
reposed  as  securely  as  if  it  had  been  the  one  great 
fount  of  every  blessing,  and  the  prime  object  of 
National  legislation ;  and  the  Republican  party,  on  its 
accession  to  power,  had  no  more  idea  of  destroying 
that  system  than  it  had  of 

"  Untuning  the  concord  of  the  spheres, 
Or  shaking  the  steady  pole." 

As  a  party  it  could  not  have  disturbed  the  legal 
status  of  slavery  in  the  States  if  it  would,  and  it 
would  not  if  it  could. 

But  secessionists  said  we  would  hem  them  in,  and 
strangle  slavery  in  its  narrow  limits.  For  narrow 
South,  let  them  look  at  the  map,  and  trace  the  out- 


412  Granville  Moody. 

lines  of  their  possession  as  under  the  dark  rising  of 
slavery.  Glance  at  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  regions 
out  of  which  they  might  have  carved  half  a  dozen  em- 
pires as  large  as  France  and  England,  with  their  mag- 
nificent rivers,  their  endless  varieties  of  soil  and 
climate,  their  stores  of  agricultural  and  mineral  wealth, 
over  which  nature  breathed  the  softness  and  lav- 
ished the  beauties  of  a  perennial  spring.  Look  at 
this  vast  expanse,  and  talk  of  being  hemmed  in ! 
But,  determined  on  the  overthrow  of  our  Government, 
the  oligarchs  of  the  South  made  every  preparation  in 
their  power  to  carry  out  their  fell  design ;  and,  on 
April  12,  1 86 1,  they  inaugurated  open,  flagrant,  deadly 
war  to  compel  our  authorities  to  submit  to  the  dis- 
memberment of  our  nationality,  disrupt  the  form  of 
government  under  which  we,  as  a  Nation,  had  grown 
to  greatness,  that  they  might  establish  an  oligarchy 
whose  corner-stone  should  be  human  slavery.  But 
how  utterly  futile  the  enterprise !  Our  best  citizens 
abandoned  the  plow,  the  anvil,  and  the  loom.  They 
left  their  shops  and  stores  and  factories.  They  has- 
tened from  pew  and  from  pulpit,  and  from  farm  and 
office  and  bar.  They  came  from  rural  districts,  and 
hamlet,  and  town,  and  city.     Their  cry  was, 

"  We  're  coming,  Father  Abraham, 
A  hundred  thousand  strong." 

And  they  rushed  to  the  fields  of  danger,  and  courted 
places  of  peril,  and  shook  their  martial  steel  in  the 
red  eye  of  war  and  in  the  grim  face  of  death.  The 
goddess  of  American  liberty,  with  gloom  on  her  brow 
and  tears  in  her  eye,  and  with  heart  wrung  with  an- 
guish, called  upon  us  imploringly  with  the  voice  of 
entreaty:  "Let  not  Columbia's  glory  go  down  to  the 
dust."  There  are  times  and  events  paramount  to  all 
others  in  the  history  of  nations,  and  of  the  world  as 


In  Civil  Life:. 


4*3 


well.  There  are  eras,  epochs,  and  critical  days  and 
hours  which  engross  the  causes  and  interests  of  cen- 
turies foreshortened  to  a  day.  Concerning  these 
epochs  the  bard  affirms, 

"We  are  living,  we  are  dwelling, 
In  a  grand  and  awful  time ; 
'T  is  an  age  on  ages  telling, 
To  be  living  is  sublime." 

History  records  these  eventful  eras,  when  all  the 
powers  of  earth  are  drawn  up  in  hostile  array,  and 
all  interests  are  suspended  on  a  single  combat.  It  is 
logically  and  historically  true  that  swords  and  bay- 
onets think,  and  war  legislates.  Such  may  be  regarded 
to  have  been  the  case  when  the  great  question  was  to 
be  decided  by  a  single  blow  between  Greece  and  Per- 
sia, whether  freedom  or  slavery  should  be  the  future 
inheritance  of  millions.  Such  was  the  case  when  the 
victory  of  Constantine  determined  whether  Paganism 
or  Christianity  should  occupy  and  hold  the  iron  throne 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  Such  was  the  case  when,  on 
the  plains  of  Tours,  it  was  decided  whether  the  Cres- 
cent should  prevail  over  the  Cross  in  the  West,  as  it 
had  prevailed  in  the  East.  Such  was  the  case  when, 
on  the  event  of  the  putting  to  sea  of  the  Spanish  Ar- 
mada, it  was  to  be  determined  whether  Popery  or  Prot- 
estantism should  be  predominant  in  Great  Britain,  and 
so  whether  the  earth  should  belong  to  Christ  or 
Antichrist.  Such  was  the  case  when,  on  the  plains 
of  Waterloo,  the  allied  armies  of  Europe  decided  the 
doom  of  the  fatalistic  Napoleon,  who  drove  the  bloody 
car  of  war  over  more  than  half  of  Europe ;  and  that 
victory  of  the  Iron  Duke  of  Wellington  and  the  in- 
vincible Bliicher  checked  the  man  of  destiny  in  his 
bloody  career,  and  changed  the  whole  current  of  hu- 
man affairs.     Such  was  the  case  when  also,  at  the  close 


4*4  Granville  Moody. 

of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Lord  Cornwallis  surren- 
dered his  sword  to  our  own  Washington  at  York- 
town's  closing  fight.  The  great  question  of  man's 
capability  for  self-government  was  put  on  the  passage, 
and  the  emphatic  act  of  our  heroic  fathers  was  Jeho- 
vah's fiat,  warranting  our  existence  as  a  Republican 
Nation  amongst  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Such,  too,  was  the  case  when,  from  Fort  Sumter, 
freedom  shrieked  her  call  to  freedom's  hosts,  and  on 
the  line  of  military  operations  on  the  Potomac  and 
James  Rivers,  on  the  Cumberland  and  the  Mississippi, 
at  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg,  the  question  was  to  be 
decided  by  the  triumph  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  over 
the  Stars  and  Bars.  It  was  the  flag  of  indivisible 
Union  versus  the  flag  of  Division ;  the  flag  of  Nation- 
ality versus  the  flag  of  Secession ;  the  flag  of  Free- 
dom over  the  flag  of  Slavery ;  whether  man  is  capable 
of  self-government  or  not;  whether  "we  hold  these 
truths,"  etc.,  as  solemn  and  divine  verities  or  mere 
glittering  generalities ;  whether  this  ocean-bound  Re- 
public should  be  the  home  and  hope  of  freemen,  or 
of  slaves  as  well.  O !  this  was  the  crisal  hour  of 
America,  and  of  the  world  as  well;  and  the  first  gun  from 
Fort  Sumter  was  God's  call  of  the  Nation  to  arms. 
Wise  and  patriotic  men  said  and  vowed:  "God  help- 
ing me,  I  never  will  consent  to  the  destruction  or  dis- 
integration of  this  Union  formed  by  our  fathers.  If 
we  can  not  live  in  peace  as  one  Nation,  we  can  not 
as  two ;  and  whenever  we  acknowledge  the  Confed- 
eracy, we  acknowledge  the  right  of  secession,  and 
there  will  be  no  end  to  division.  New  York  will  come 
and  say:  "You  have  acknowledged  the  right  of  the 
rebel  Slave  States  to  secede,  and  you  have  let  them  go 
and  take  with  them  two-thirds  of  the  public  domain, 
three-fourths   of   the    Atlantic   coast,   and  all   of  the 


In  Civii,  Life.  415 

Gulf  coast  and  States.  You  yielded  the  point  that  the 
Constitution  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  you 
have  agreed  that  State  rights  and  State  sovereignty 
shall  take  the  place  of  National  sovereignty  and  su- 
premacy, in  violation  of  the  doctrine  of  Washington 
and  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  and  Jackson  and 
Clay  and  Webster.  Whenever  you  recognize  one 
rebellion,  and  submit  to  the  dismemberment  of  a  part 
of  the  States,  the  door  is  open  wide,  and  all  the  other 
States  may  set  up  for  themselves,  and  repudiate  your 
Constitution,  Congress,  President,  Government-debt, 
and  all."  New  York  will  insist  that  she  can  prosper 
better  alone  than  in  partnership  with  the  rest  of  the 
States.  Having  the  port  of  entry  of  all  nations,  the 
tariff  duties  would  give  her  unbounded  wealth.  So 
Massachusetts  would  go ;  and  so  Maine,  with  her  pine- 
tree,  and  " Dirigo"  on  her  brow.  Thus  your  Union 
would  be  but  as  a  rope  of  sand,  and  where  would  be 
the  Government  of  the  great  Republic  ?  Where  would 
be  your  pensions  for  your  soldiers,  who  came  home 
maimed,  crippled,  or  diseased  in  the  public  defense? 
Where  would  be  the  annual  stipend  for  the  widows 
and  orphans,  who  gave  up  the  husbands  and  fathers 
that  the  country  might  live  ?  I  ask,  where  are  your  flag 
and  your  nationality?  You  would  have  fallen  lower 
than  poor  pronunciamento  Mexico,  and  been  con- 
signed to  endless  anarchy.  With  borders  to  defend 
against  each  other's  encroachment,  border  warfare, 
worse  than  the  border  wars  of  Scotland  and  England, 
would  follow;  and,  instead  of  having  peace,  you  would 
have  interminable  war.  The  Negroes  of  Kentucky 
would  run  away  into  Ohio ;  of  Virginia  and  Maryland 
into  Pennsylvania,  and  their  recapture  would  engen- 
der continual  strife.  It  was  the  striking  remark  of  one 
of  earth's  greatest  thinkers,  that   "it   is  one    of  the 


416  Granville  Moody. 

greatest  reproaches  to  human  nature  that  wars  are 
sometimes  necessary."  The  defense  of  nations,  the 
rights  and  interests  of  millions  and  their  posterity  as 
well,  sometimes  demand  resistance  against  the  rapa- 
cious injustice  of  contiguous  or  of  foreign  powers. 
Hence,  force  must  be  met  with  force,  and  revelation 
and  reason  alike  declare  that 

"War  is  honorable, 
In  those  who  do  their  native  rights  maintain, 
In  those  whose  swords  an  iron  barrier  are 
Betwixt  the  ruthless  spoiler  and  the  weak." 

It  is  by  pangs  and  throes  that  truth  is  born  into 
the  world.  It  was  the  birth-throes  of  war  that  gave 
us  an  existence  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and 
made  our  vast  domain  a  common  refuge  for  the  op- 
pressed of  all  lands,  and  the  late  War  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Slaveholders'  Rebellion  has  been  the 
efficient  means,  under  the  good  providence  of  the  God 
of  battles,  in  preserving  to  us,  and  our  children  after 
us,  the  very  existence  of  our  Nation.  It  should  ever 
be  borne  in  mind  that  Southern  traitors,  countenanced 
and  aided  by  Northern  confederates,  inaugurated  the 
war.  Beauregard,  with  the  fiery  tongues  of  eighty 
pieces  of  artillery,  opened  on  Fort  Sumter,  and  began 
the  work  of  blood  in  order  to  establish  the  Confed- 
eracy of  the  slaveholding  States,  and  absolutely  legal- 
ize, perpetuate,  and  extend  human  slavery  on  two- 
thirds  of  the  territory  to  which  the  Nation  had 
the  right  of  eminent  dominion.  Their  watchword  was 
"  Secession  and  Slavery,"  two  of  the  most  infamous, 
outrageous,  and  obnoxious  words  that  were  ever 
mouthed  outside  of  the  realms  of  perdition.  The 
mighty  North  rose  as  the  tide  rises ;  they  moved  as 
billows  move  navies  that  are  stranded.  The  Free 
States  arose  in  their  might.     The  war-drums  throbbed 


In  Civii,  Life.  417 

forth  the  pent-up  feelings  of  a  citizen  soldiery,  such 
as  the  world  had  never  seen  before.  Our  battle-flags 
flaunted  defiance  to  the  boastful  chivalry,  who  were 
used  to  swinging  the  plantation  whip  over  men, 
women,  and  children  of  the  dusky  brow,  who  cringed 
before  their  masters  in  the  might  of  their  irresponsi- 
ble power  to  exact  the  unrequited  labors  and  progeny 
of  their  poor,  down-trodden  slaves.  Little  did  these 
puissant  slave-drivers  imagine  that  the  God  of  Moses, 
who  delivered  the  slaves  of  Jacob's  seed  from  the 
bondage  of  Pharaoh  at  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea, 
was  about  to  repeat  himself  on  the  Potomac,  the 
James,  the  Cumberland,  the  Mississippi,  and  Missouri 
Rivers,  by  joining  the  right  with  the  might  in  their 
sanguinary  overthrow.  Inspiration  says  (Eccl.  v,  8)  : 
"If  thou  seest  the  oppression  of  the  poor,  and  violent 
perverting  of  judgment  and  justice  in  a  province, 
marvel  not  at  the  matter ;  for  he  that  is  higher  than 
the  highest  regardeth,  and  there  be  higher  than  they." 
The  sublime  heroism  displayed  by  our  citizen  sol- 
diery at  Carnifex,  Bowling  Green,  Pea  Ridge,  Mill 
Springs,  Fort  Donelson,  Island  No.  10,  Shiloh,  Iuka, 
Corinth,  Pittsburg  Landing,  Perryville,  Stone  River, 
New  Orleans,  Mobile,  Port  Gibson,  Hilton  Head, 
Grand  Gulf,  Vicksburg,  Port  Hudson,  Jackson,  Tul- 
lahoma,  Chickamauga,  Chattanooga,  Lookout  Mount- 
ain, Kenesaw,  Atlanta,  Sherman's  blazing  march  to 
the  sea,  Rapidan,  Chickahominy,  James  River,  Get- 
tysburg, Knoxville,  "  On  to  Richmond,"  Nashville, 
Franklin,  and  other  fields  where  our  glory  was  won, 
presents  a  solemn  pageant,  unequaled  in  all  the  annals 
of  authentic  war.  The  baptism  of  blood  which  inau- 
gurated our  repossession  of  the  revolted  States  has 
been  a  sublime  and  impressive  consecration  of  the 
Sunny  South    to    the   future    hopes    of    the  patriot, 


418  Granville  Moody. 

and   the   establishment  of   freedom    in    that  land  of 
oppression.      K 

"This  fratricidal  war 

Grows  on  the  poisonous  tree 
That  God  and  men  abhor — 

Accursed  slavery ! 
And  God  required  that  we 

Shall  eat  this  deadly  fruit, 
Till  we  dig  up  the  tree 
And  burn  its  every  root." 

The  precious  blood  poured  out  on  a  hundred  bat- 
tle-fields, the  heroic  lives  there  laid  down,  constitute 
a  matchless  hecatomb  and  holocaust  offered  up  through 
the  flames  of  battle  for  the  preservation  of  our  Na- 
tionality, the  American  Union,  and  the  emancipation 
of  the  helpless,  shackled  millions  of  our  land — the 
vindication  of  the  declared  principles  of  1776  in 
1861-65. 

Against  the  serried  ranks  and  solid  columns  of 
rebel  prowess  that  confronted  them,  they  stood  as  the 
ledgy  lines  of  rock  amid  the  foaming,  angry  billows 
of  the  storm-swept  ocean ;  and,  when  temporarily 
overwhelmed,  they  were  as  unshaken  as  the  continent. 
Amid  confused  noise  of  advancing  columns,  the  shout- 
ings of  the  captains  and  the  shock  of  battle,  they  rallied 
round  the  "flag  of  the  free  heart's  hope  and  home." 
No  tongue  nor  pen  can  describe  to  those  at  home  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  services  of  your  fathers  and 
brothers  and  sons.  While  thus  we  keep  their  memory 
green,  and  garland  all  their  graves  in  the  beautiful 
season  when  spring  returns  with  daisy-slippers  on  her 
feet  and  rose-buds  on  her  brow,  let  us,  in  practical 
gratitude,  honor  their  widows  and  their  children  by 
making  them  our  wards,  watching  over  all  their  inter- 
ests, warning  them  of  danger,  employing  them  pref- 
erably to  others,  and  thus  supply,  as  far  as  we  may, 


In  Civil  Life.  419 

the  loss  they  have  incurred  for  the  National  welfare. 
Let  us  also  conscientiously  and  religiously,  humanely 
and  patriotically,  resolve  and  vow  and  act  and  vote 
and  talk  so  that  the  legitimate  ends  for  which  they 
volunteered  their  persons,  toil,  sufferings,  and  death 
shall  be  secured  to  the  Nation  to  whose  prosperity 
they  consecrated  their  all. 

Alexander  H.  Stephens,  the  Vice-President  of  the 
Confederacy,  said  to  the  South,  immediately  after  the 
surrender  of  the  Confederate  Democracy,  of  the  Slave- 
ocracy :  ''Gentlemen,  we  have  lost  our  all  on  the  field 
of  battle.  Our  only  hope  is  now  to  regain  in  the  halls 
of  National  legislation  what  we  have  so  grievously 
lost  in  battle."  Freemen,  do  you  hear  that  note  of 
their  great  fugleman?  And  are  they  not  busily  en- 
gaged in  this  sapping  and  mining  and  circumvallat- 
ing  our  strongholds  of  freedom?  Have  not  the 
"White  Liners,"  the  "Night  Riders,"  the  "Shot-gun 
Cavalry,"  the  "Bulldozers,"  effectually  deprived  free- 
men, white  and  black,  of  their  blood-bought  access  to 
the  ballot-boxes  of  the  South?  Have  they  not,  by 
tissue  ballots,  manufactured  majorities  which  devils 
damned  would  blush  to  own  ?  Have  they  not  secured 
a  "solid  South"  by  intimidation  and  bribery  and 
blood  ?  Have  not  the  Confederate  Congress  in  Wash- 
ington shown  their  hand?  Are  they  not  endeavoring 
to  break  down  every  legal  guard  by  which  a  true  and 
pure  election  can  be  secured?  Are  they  not  trying 
to  banish  the  unpartisan  supervision  of  the  ballot-box 
as  provided  for  by  law  ?  Do  they  not  show  their  in- 
nate hostility  to  the  army  of  the  United  States  in  the 
most  palpable  manner?  Are  they  not  unwilling  that 
our  National  authorities  shall  have  within  reach  the 
means  of  securing  to  every  one  who  has  a  right  to 
vote  that  blood-bought  right? 


420  Granville  Moody. 

We  rejoice  that  Ohio  has  borne  her  part  so  grandly 
in  the  overthrow  of  the  Slaveholders'  Rebellion,  the 
defeat  of  secession,  the  vindication  of  our  essential 
and  historic  Nationality  and  undivided  and  indivisi- 
ble Union.  Our  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  regi- 
ments returned  to  Columbus  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  and  finally  handed  over  their  rent  and  torn  and 
bullet-riddled  battle-flags  with  honors  becoming  relics 
so  venerable,  soldiers  so  true,  officers  so  vigilant  and 
brave.  They  recall  proud  memories  of  bloody  fields  ; 
sweet  memories  of  valor  and  friendship  ;  sad  memories 
of  fraternal  strife ;  tender  memories  of  our  fallen 
brothers  and  sons,  whose  dying  glance  was  cheered  by 
their  stars ;  grand  memories  of  heroic  virtues ;  exult- 
ant memories  of  great  and  decisive  victories  of  our 
country,  our  Union,  our  Nationality ;  thankful  memo- 
ries of  well- wrought  deliverances  for  ourselves  and  four 
and  one-half  millions  of  slaves,  now  free  ;  immortal 
memories  mingling  with  immortality.  All  these  mem- 
ories twine  around  the  flags,  baptized  with  fire  and 
blood. 

To-day  we  meet  to  recount,  rehearse,  and  com- 
memorate the  deeds  of  our  fallen  heroes  who  died  on 
the  battle-field  afar,  in  the  tumult  of  war,  or  yielded 
up  their  breath  in  gloomy  hospitals  within  our  mili- 
tary lines,  or  pined  to  death  in  Andersonville  prison- 
pens,  Belle  Isle,  Castle  Thunder,  Libby  Prison,  where 
Southern  chivalry  disgraced  humanity  in  its  outrages 
on  our  noble  men,  not  accepting  deliverance  that  they 
might  obtain  a  better  resurrection.  Those  heroes  who 
saved  the  great  Republic  live  in  the  cherished  memo- 
ries of  millions  who,  to-day,  do  scatter  earth's  choicest 
flowers  on  their  honored  graves  wherever  found. 

Genius,  in  its  sublimest  songs ;  oratory,  in  its  di- 
vinest  utterances ;  history,  in  its  truthful  records ;  and 


In  Civil  Life.  421 

art,  in  its  costliest  monuments,  transmit  the  peerless 
record  of  our  unreturning  braves  to  distant  ages, 
while  youth  and  worth  and  blushing  beauty  shall  gar- 
land the  graves  of  our  country's  defenders,  in  our 
home  cemeteries  and  on  bloody  battle-fields,  where, 
before  the  Slaveholders'  Rebellion,  there  had  never 
before  fallen  any  stain  darker  than  the  petals  of  the 
peach -bloom  or  snowy  blossom  of  the  welcome 
strawberry ;  or  on  verdant  ranges,  as  of  Lookout 
Mountain  or  Kenesaw,  where  daisies,  fresh  from  na- 
ture's sleep,  stood  in  smiling  beauty,  that  man  might 
see  "  the  matchless  signet  of  his  God."  'T  is  well  that 
thus  we  give  evidence  of  our  appreciation  of  the  dead 
who  fell  in  defense  of  the  palladium  of  the  union  of 
our  millions  in  one  Nationality.  'T  is  fitting,  sure,  that 
thus  we  meet  by  National  authority,  supreme,  to  honor 
the  graves  of  our  heroic  dead  by  these  floral  offer- 
ings, whose  scented  breath  speaks  with  still,  small 
voice  as  affiants  of  our  patriotic  regards. 

"Flowers!     When  our  Savior's  calm,  benignant  eye 
Fell  on  your  gentle  beauty,  when  from  you 
That  heavenly  lesson  for  our  hearts  he  drew, 

Then  in  the  bosom  of  your  purity 
A  voice  he  set,  as  in  a  temple  shrine, 

That  hasty  travelers  ne'er  might  pass  you  by, 
Unwarned  of  that  sweet  oracle  divine." 

There  is  a  lesson  in  each  of  these  flowers ;  there 
are  written  words  which,  if  rightly  read,  will  lead  the 
soul  from  earth's  fragrant  bosom  to  hope,  to  holiness, 
and  to  God.  • 

"Were  I,  O  God!  in  churchless  lands  remaining, 
FAar  from  all  voice  of  teachers  or  divines, 
My  soul  should  find  in  flowers  of  thy  ordaining, 
Priests,  sermons,  shrines." 

No  virtue  would  here  be  missing.  Whatsoever 
things  are  true,  honest,  pure,  just,    lovely,    of  good 


422  Granville  Moody. 

report,  and  virtuous,  here  you  behold  them  all.  See 
Christian  faith,  turning  and  clinging  to  Jesus.  The 
passion-flower  of  endurance  mingles  with  the  sun- 
flower of  faith ;  from  the  lily  chalice  of  heavenly- 
mindedness  rises  the  fragrance  of  good  deeds.  Be- 
hold a  rich  and  ever-blooming  garland  from  God's 
garden  culled,  baptized  with  sparkling  dew-drops,  and 
bound  together  with  the  vine  of  charity,  which  is  the 
bond  of  perfectness. 

Young  ladies,  I  congratulate  you  on  the  enviable 
position  you  occupy  to-day,  as  the  immediate  agents 
of  a  grateful  Republic,  sent  forth  in  your  beauty  and 
youth  and  moral  loveliness  to  twine  the  "Red,  White, 
and  Blue"  around  the  brows  of  your  country's  de- 
fenders, and  garland  their  lonely  graves  with  peerless 
honors.  Your  beauteous  smiles  are,  indeed,  shaded  by 
the  solemnities  of  the  day,  and  the  graves  of  the  heroic 
dead  shall  be  baptized  with  your  crystal  tears,  while 
from  the  purest  depths  of  your  patriotic  hearts, 
formed  for  strongest  sympathies,  you  say : 

"  The  hand  that  for  my  country  fought, 
I  honor  as  its  daughter  ought." 

Through  your  lips  of  purity  and  truth  the  millions 
of  America  say  to  the  shades  of  the  thundering  legions  : 

"Rest,  soldier,  rest!     Thy  country  comes, 

With  tender  love  and  true, 
Freely  to  deck  thine  honored  bed  ; 
Her  banner  o'er  thy  turf  to  spread, 
And  on  thy  verdanfc  grave  to  shed 

Fond  memory's  pearly  dew." 

Tread  softly,  then,  amid  these  honored  graves,  and 
let  your  footsteps  be  all  aglow  with  earth's  spring 
flowers,  the  signets  of  our  grateful  love  to  our  un- 
returning  braves.  Vestals,  whose  holy  duty  it  is  to 
keep  the  fires  glowing  on  the  heart  and  hearthstone, 


In  Civil  Life.  423 

and  on  your  country's  altars,  go  strew  these  flowers 
on  the  graves  of  our  Nation's  defenders — assured  that 
coming  generations,  your  successors  in  this  welcome 
work  will  emulate  your  zeal  in  similar  services,  and, 
with  ever-increasing  appreciation  of  the  mighty  dead, 
who  built  themselves  into  the  history  of  our  country, 
"in  the  times  that  tried  men's  souls,"  will  lay  on 
those  graves  a  beautiful  votive  offering  that  shall 
continue  annually, 

"  While  earth  bears  a  flower, 
Or  ocean  rolls  a  wave." 

At  a  reunion  of  the  soldiers  belonging  to  the 
Seventy-fourth  Regiment,  Ohio  Volunteer  Infan- 
try, held  at'Xenia,  Ohio,  the  author  delivered  an 
address,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are 
made  : 

And  what  shall  we  say  to  the  noble  veterans  who 
have  returned  to  grace  our  homes  and  halls  and  groves 
and  churches  with  their  bronzed  faces  and  soldierly 
bearing?  Welcome,  welcome,  welcome  !  We  owe  you 
a  debt  of  gratitude  and  honor  and  consideration,  which 
we  never  can  liquidate.  You  have  bared  your  bosoms 
to  the  storm  of  war.  You  have  brought  back  your 
shields  with  "  Viet"  written  on  them.  Again,  wel- 
come, welcome,  welcome !  And  we  will  share  with 
you  the  blessings  of  peace,  now  that 

"  The  war-drum  throbs  no  longer, 
And  our  battle-flags  are  furled." 

Nor  will  we  let  this  occasion  pass  without  laying 
our  twined  garlands  of  immortelles  and  forget-me-nots 
on  the  graves  of  our  fallen  comrades,  among  whom  you 
will  pardon  me  for  mentioning  the  name  of  my  first- 
born son,  Lieutenant  William  H.  H.  Moody,  of  Com- 


424  Granville  Moody. 

pany  H,  of  our  noble  regiment,  topographical  en- 
gineer, and  aid  on  the  staff  of  our  grand  commander, 
Major-General  James  S.  Negley.  Do  I  say  too  much, 
when  I  indorse  the  encomiums  pronounced  upon  him 
by  Generals  Negley,  Thomas,  and  Rosecrans?  Dear 
as  was  the  sacrifice,  we  laid  him  on  the  altar  of  his 
country,  and  God  took  him  through  the  flames  of  bat- 
tle to  the  realms  of  glory.  Truly,  I  should  have 
deemed  my  house  disgraced  if  it  had  stood  secure 
amid  the  sacrifices  of  a  civil  war. 

And  now  let  us  glance  at  the  grand  results  achieved 
by  this  contest: 

i.  We  have  thus  proven  to  the  world  that  we  are 
the  worthy  descendants  of  the  men  who  established 
our  Government,  and  committed  it  to  our  trust  for 
generations  yet  unborn. 

2.  We  have  maintained  the  National  life  against 
despots  at  home,  foreign  enemies,  and  domestic  s}Tm- 
pathizers  with  rebels. 

3.  We  have  struck  the  monster  Secession  its  death- 
blow, and  laid  that  malignant  spirit  in  the  Hades  of 
perdition. 

4.  We  have  extirpated  the  Upas  of  slavery  from 
the  American  soil    and  made  her  at  once 

"  The  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave." 

What  our  sires  avowed  in  1776,  we  achieved  in  1865. 
The  sun,  as  it  rolls  from  east  to  west  does  not 
shine  on  a  single  slave.  We  rejoice  to  see  this  curse 
removed. 

5.  We  have  demonstrated  the  capability  of  our 
Republican  Government  for  times  of  war  as  well  as 
times  of  peace. 

6.  We  have  challenged  the  admiration  of  the  world 
and  commanded  its  respect,  while  the  leading  nations 


In  Civil  Life.  425 

have  stood  astonished  at  our  patriotism,  resources,  and 
prowess. 

7.  We  have  shown  that  no  State  or  combination  of 
States,  can  rightfully  resist  a  government  of,  by,  and 
for  the  people. 

8.  We  have  demonstrated  man's  capability  for  self- 
government  in  his  associated  capacity. 

9.  We  have  shown  that  the  spirit  of  freedom  is  the 
very  soul  of  the  Republic,  and  the  genius  of  liberty 
still  upholds  our  starry  banner  as  the  harbinger  of 
the  millennial  morning,  and  the  pledge  of  the  latter- 
day  glory  of  the  sodality  of  humanity. 

10.  The  terrible  conflict  has  developed  a  purer 
civilization  and  the  noblest  national  character  the 
world  has  ever  seen. 

11.  We  have  conquered  our  prejudices  as  well  as 
our  enemies,  and  acknowledged  man's  manhood  before 
the  law  and  before  our  God — a  moral  triumph,  great 
as  those  achieved  amid  confused  noise  of  warriors, 
and  garments  rolled  in  blood.  We  thank  God  for  the 
liberation  of  an  oppressed  race  in  our  midst,  their 
elevation  to  their  God-given  rights  of  manhood  and 
their  enfranchisement.  God  said  :  "  Give  liberty  to  the 
blacks  or  be  slaves  yourselves."  We  have  reaffirmed 
by  the  stern  logic  of  events  what  our  fathers  declared 
in  1776,  and  now  the  dusky  child  of  Africa  claims  his 
own,  and  the  stars  of  our  flag  shed  their  cheering 
light  on  the  humble  cabin  of  the  dark-browed  son  of 
the  sun,  who  now  looks  up  and  says:  "Am  I  not  a 
man  and  a  brother?"  Yes,  the  sin  of  the  world  has 
been  sacrificed,  the  crime  of  ages  has  been  expiated. 
A  slave  breathes  not  on  our  soil.  The  sun  of  liberty 
melts  his  chains  away  wherever  his  feet  press  the 
soil  of  America. 

36 


426  Granville  Moody. 

12.  Having  put  the  National  rifle  and  committed 
the  starry  flag  into  the  hands  of  American  citizens  of 
African  descent,  and  found  them  faithful,  we  will  now 
intrust  to  them  the  ballot. 

13.  We  shall  bequeath  this  matchless  land  and  her 
peerless  institutions  to  our  children,  better,  far  better, 
than  we  received  them  from  our  ancestors,  with  the 
fond  hope  strengthened  that  they  will  continue. 

14.  By  the  practical  assurance  that  we  regard  the 
public  debt,  contracted  to  save  our  National  life,  to  be 
as  sacred  as  the  graves  of  our  soldiers,  we  exhibit 
that  sterling  honesty  which  alone  can  exalt  a  nation ; 
believing  that  the  only  debt  that  we  can  not  pay  is  the 
debt  of  gratitude  to  God  and  honor  to  our  most 
heroic  braves. 

With  this  review  and  prospect,  comrades  of  the 
gallant  Seventy-fourth  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  let  us 
close  by  singing  the  patriot's  and  the  philanthropist's 
apostrophe  to  the  glorious  country  whose  synonym  is 
found  in  our  vindicated  and  perpetuated  National 
motto,  E  Pluribus  Unum  : 

"My  county,  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty,  • 

Of  thee  I  sing !" 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.   427 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
more  fragments  of  clerical  life. 

IN  1845,  when  the  obsequies  of  General  Andrew 
Jackson  were  being  celebrated  in  Cincinnati  by 
appropriate  ceremonies,  I  was  standing  on  the 
corner  of  Fourth  and  Main  Streets,  looking  at  the 
procession  marching  in  solemn  parade  to  honor" 
his  memory.  While  my  attention  was  diverted, 
I  was  robbed  of  my  purse  by  a  pickpocket.  I  did 
not  seize  him  in  the  act,  and  only  caught  a  glimpse 
of  him  as  he  was  escaping.  He  was  soon  after- 
ward apprehended.  I  identified  him  in  open  court, 
under  oath,  and  yet  he  persisted  that  I  never  saw 
him  till  that  time.  His  lawyer  asked  me  if  I 
could  swear  to  each  bill  in  the  package  found  on 
the  person  of  the  accused.  I  told  him  "  no,"  but 
that  I  could  swear  as  to  the  amount,  twenty-five 
dollars,  the  same  amount  as  was  found  in  the  vest- 
pocket  of  the  accused  when  arrested ;  that  there 
was  a  one-dollar  bill  on  the  Bank  of  Wooster  (the 
account  of  the  failure  of  which  bank  I  had  read  in 
the  morning  paper)  that  I  could  swear  to.  He 
handed  me  the  one-dollar  note  of  the  broken  bank 
of  Wooster,  and  kept  the  rest  as  his  fee  for  de- 
fending the  culprit.  The  thief  stole  twelve  hun- 
dred dollars  that  same  day,  was  convicted  of  grand 
larceny,  and  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary  of  Ohio 
for  seven  years.  .  % 


428  Granville  Moody. 

After  leaving  Cincinnati,  my  next  appointment 
was  Columbus,  Ohio.  James  B.  Finley  was  then 
chaplain  of  the  penitentary.  As  I  stood  in  the 
pulpit  to  preach  for  him  one  Sabbath  morning,  I 
saw  this  very  robber  about  eight  feet  away.  After 
service  he  solicited  an  interview  with  me,  which 
was  granted  in  his  cell,  and  he  confessed  to  me 
that  he  was  the  man  who  had  robbed  me,  though 
so  persistently  denying  it  in  court.  He  said  he 
belonged  to  a  Christian  family,  members  of  the 
Baptist  Church  in  Pittsburg.  "  But,"  continued  he, 
"they  do  not  know  where  I  am.  I  got  into  bad 
company,  formed  drinking  habits,  and  have  gone 
from  bad  to  worse,  till  I  am  here.  This  prison 
life  is  very  injurious  to  me,  and  my  health  is  fail- 
ing." I  prayed  for  him.  Grace  flowed  like  a 
stream  of  mercy  upon  him,  and  I  fondly  hoped 
that  he  was  restored  to  divine  favor,  and  renewed 
in  the  image  of  Christ. 

I  saw  Governor  Mordecai  Bartley  the  next  day 
about  him.  The  governor  heard  me  patiently; 
inquired  into  the  case,  and  on  Thanksgiving-day 
a  pardon  was  put  into  my  hands,  which  I  con- 
veyed to  him,  and  the  young  man  was  restored  to 
society,  and  went  on  his  way  rejoicing. 

In  1852  I  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Con- 
ference, and  on  May  1st,  I  reached  Boston,  Mass., 
where  the  sessions  were  to  be  held,  at  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  I  went  to  a  leading  hotel,  and, 
not  feeling  sleepy,  sauntered  about  the  reception- 
room.  Here  I  found  a  man  speechless  from  a 
paroxysm  of  asthma.     I  relieved  him  by  warmth 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.   429 

and  procuring  for  him  potations  of  strong,  hot 
coffee,  till  he  was  so  recovered  as  to  give  me  the 
key  of  his  trunk,  and  ask  me  to  take  from  it  some 
stramonium.  A  thorough  fumigation  of  it,  with  a 
pipe,  gave  him  complete  relief. 

A  port-folio  taken  from  his  trunk,  as  I  searched 
for  the  dried  herb,  was  plainly  marked  Rev.  J.  V. 
Watson.  This  was  the  first  of  my  acquaintance  with 
the  Doctor.  He  insisted  upon  knowing  my  name, 
and  when  at  last  I  said,  "  I  am  Granville  Moody, 
a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  which  meets 
here  to-day,"  he  replied:  "You  are  Granville 
Moody  !  Well,  sir,  you  are  not  the  kind  of  a  man 
I  took  you  to  be,  at  all.  I  have  known  you  from 
your  opposition  to  pewed  churches,  and  your  con- 
stant advocacy  of  free  grace  and  free  sittings." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  I  replied,  "that  euphonious  phrase 
is  my  short  creed  ;  since  faith  cometh  by  hearing, 
and  salvation  cometh  by  faith,  I  believe  that  fur- 
nishing the  freest  sittings  is  befitting  a  Church 
that  offers  salvation  on  the  simple  condition  of 
genuine  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  greater  the 
facilities  for  hearing  the  gospel  message,  the  greater 
the  likelihood  that  more  will  hear  and  heed,  obey 
and  live.  There  is  a  philosophical  and  evangelical 
fitness  in  free  grace  and  free  sittings — a  gospel 
harmony ;  and  what  God  hath  joined  together  let 
no  man  put  asunder." 

At  the  conference  of  1863  a  petition  resulted  in 
my  appointment  as  pastor  of  Greene  Street  charge 
Piqua.  I  received  a  warm  Methodist  welcome, 
and,  as   most  of   the    Church   were  outspoken  in 


430  Granville  Moody. 

their  loyalty  to  the  country,  I  found  a  hearty  wel- 
come to  an  eminently  patriotic  and  pious  people, 
not  least  among  whom  was  John  Cheever.  He 
was  a  native  of  New  England,  came  from. Boston, 
and  was  in  every  sense  a  square  Yankee;  bright, 
sharp,  keen-visioned,  self-reliant,  enterprising,  sa- 
gacious, painstaking,  economical,  and    provident. 

After  a  fall  and  winter  spent'  amidst  the 
glory  of  a  protracted  revival  season  in  the  Church, 
during  which  multiplied  scores  were  awakened, 
and  converted,  and  sealed,  and  saved  as  heirs  of 
the  grace  that  is  in  Christ,  and  all  believing  men, 
the  spring  season  dawned  with  its  healing  and 
life-giving  power,  and  I  broached  the  enterprise 
of  rebuilding  the  old  church.  It  was  a  Gothic 
building,  eighty  by  fifty  feet.  It  contained  a  base- 
ment, six  feet  and  a  few  inches  high  ;  an  audience- 
room  of  seventy  feet  in  length,  and  galleries  on 
the  sides  and  end.  The  first  story  was  built  of 
stone,  with  the  walls  two  and  a  half  or  three  feet 
thick.  A  small  sonorous  bell  was  mounted  on  a 
wooden  building  in  the  rear  of  the  church.  The 
whole  contour  of  this  corner  building  was  unique, 
and  marked  well  the  severe  manners  of  the  times. 
A  low  pitched  roof,  barn-like  in  style,  suggested 
that  the  building  was  "  God's  barn,"  and  not  inap- 
propriately showed  it  to  be  the  domicile  of  a  large 
part  of  God's  favored  people ;  the  shelter  of  the 
sheep  of  his  pasture,  and  a  home  of  the  flock  of 
his  hand. 

It  had  served  ,well  its  purpose,  and  the  times 
and  needs  of  this   charge    indicated    change   and 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.     431 

improvement;  I  talked  to  the  people  pastorally, 
and  preached  publicly  about  the  necessity  of  a 
change  in  the  Lord's  house,  and  I  proposed  to 
raise  the  upper  story  nine  or  ten  feet  by  screws, 
and  build  up  a  wall  from  the  ground  to  fill  the  space, 
and  thus  furnish  an  ample  basement  for  Sabbath- 
school  purposes  and  class-rooms,  and  to  add  to  the 
rear  a  two-story  annex,  which  should  contain  an 
infant-class  room  of  twenty  by  fifty  feet,  and  up- 
stairs a  pastor's  study  and  two  class-rooms.  Then 
a  bell-tower  on  the  new  front  of  the  building  would 
give  room  for  a  vestibule.  The  whole  expense 
was  estimated  at  ten  thousand  dollars. 

Well,  this  created  a  division  of  sentiment, 
though  two-thirds  of  the  Church  favored  the  for- 
ward movement.  Brother  Cheever  was  in  the 
minority,  and  he  opposed  the  movement  with  true 
Yankee  vigor  and  persistence,  arguing  against  in- 
curring so  much  expense  ;  and  familiar  as  he  was 
with  current  prices  of  every  item  in  building,  and 
the  price  of  every  day's  labor,  he  forecast  a 
mighty  sum  of  indebtedness  in  the  projected  en- 
terprise. He  foretold  dismay  and  disaster  and 
defeat  in  any  movement  upon  the  old  and  estab- 
lished order  of  things.  I  persisted  with  the  ma- 
jority for  advance.  At  length  the  third  quarterly 
conference  met,  every  member  in  his  place.  Busi- 
ness progressed  steadily  till  the  presiding  elder 
called  for  the  report  of  the  trustees.  Brother 
Cheever  arose  on  a  question  of  privilege,  and  said  : 

"  Brethren,  you  will  be  surprised  to  hear  from 
me   this    morning,    that   I    am   heartily   in    favor 


432  Granville  Moody. 

of  Brother  Moody's  enterprise  of  rebuilding  the 
church.  Last  Sabbath,  and  the  evening  of  the 
Lord's-day,  found  me  in  firmest  opposition  to  the 
whole  enterprise;  but  the  Lord  has  strangely 
turned  my  mind.  I  retired  to  my  bedroom  and 
prayed  the  Lord  to  help  me  to  preserve  the  Greene 
Street  Charge  from  going  into  the  wild  enterprise 
of  building  a  new  church  in  these  troublous  times. 
But  there  was  no  voice,  nor  any  that  answered.  I 
then  retired  to  my  pillow,  and  prayed  and  prayed 
again  without  effect.  I  then  arose  and  placed  the 
lamp  and  the  Bible  on  my  large  chair,  and  said : 
'Lord,  thou  seest  and  knowest  the  scheme  that 
Brother  Moody  has  in  hand,  and  thou  knowest  that 
in  these  times  of  war  it  is  no  fitting  time  for  us  to  be 
planning  to  build  houses  or  churches.  Thou  know- 
est that  materials  and  labor  are  high.  Common 
plank  and  better  plank  and  other  kinds  of  plank 
cost  about  two  prices,  and  paint  and  glass  and  putty 
and  chairs  and  carpets  and  lamps  are  at  double  or- 
dinary prices.  Shingles  are  so  much  per  thousand, 
and  hauling  costs  twice  as  much  as  it  did.  And 
now,  Lord,  I  ask  thee  to  show  me  my  duty  by 
this  appeal  which  I  make  on  my  knees  to  thee. 
Thy  Word  is  a  light  to  our  feet  and  a  guide  to 
our  steps  in  every  perplexity,  and  we  are  in  great 
perplexity  now.  I  appeal  in  this  way  unto  thee  ; 
I  put  this  Bible,  thy  precious  Word  of  truth,  be- 
fore my  eyes.  Now,  Lord,  when  I  open  the  Book 
with  my  eyes  closed,  if  the  place  opened  upon  shall 
not  refer  to  building  churches,  nor  indicate  any- 
thing in  regard  to  building  thee  a  church,  then  I 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.    433 

shall  conclude  that  I  am  right  and  Brother  Moody  is 
wrong  in  urging  us  to  go  into  building ;  but  if  the 
chapter  I  open  upon  speaks  of  building  for  thee  a 
church  or  building  for  thy  worship  and  service 
and  glory,  then,  Lord,  I  shall  conclude  that  it 
is  thy  will  that  we  follow  Brother  Moody's  advice, 
and  I  will  submit  my  will  to  thine,  and  I  will  do 
my  full  share,  according  to  my  ability,  in  this  new 
building  cause.  Amen.'  Then  I  opened  my  eyes, 
and  they  fell  upon  this  passage,  the  first  chapter 
of  Haggai." 

He  then  read  the  chapter,  and  pledged  his 
name  to  a  full  pro  i'ata  of  the  expense  of  remod- 
eling that  house  of  worship.  The  enterprise  went 
on,  and  the  church  was  remodeled  accordingly. 

While  the  author  was  serving  this  Church,  the 
news  of  the  victory  at  Lookout  Mountain  and 
Chattanooga  was  received  at  Piqua  on  Thanks- 
giving morning,  November  26,  1863,  after  the  con- 
gregation had  assembled  for  worship.  The  report 
of  what  was  said  and  done  on  that  occasion  is 
given  in  the  following  extracts  from  Cincinnati 
papers.  The  first  is  part  of  the  correspondence 
of  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  : 

The  glorious  news  from  Chattanooga  this  morning 
cheated  the  Rev.  Colonel  Moody  out  of  the  opportu- 
nity of  delivering  his  Thanksgiving  Sermon.  The 
congregation  had  met  at  Greene  Street  Church  in 
accordance  with  the  President's  Proclamation,  had 
sung  the  "President's  Hymn,"  taken  up  a  collection 
of  about  sixty  dollars  for  the  Sanitary  Commission, 
and  our  fighting  preacher  had  scarcely   got  through 

37 


434  Granville  Moody. 

his  introduction,  when  the  Gazette  arrived,  was  brought 
into  the  church,  and  was  handed  to  him  by  our 
patriotic  sexton.  The  preacher  stopped,  paused  a 
moment,  and  then  shouted:  "Glorious  news  !"  He  read 
the  headings  of  the  telegraphic  news,  and  said :  "  The 
congregation  will  all  rise.  Now  three  cheers  for  the  old 
Stars  and  Stripes !"  They  were  given  with  a  will,  and 
the  walls  of  Greene  Street  rang  wjth  the  shouts  of 
sturdy  old  stewards  and  leaders.  "Now  let  us  sing, 
all  sing,  'Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow.'  " 
When  this  was  sung,  the  preacher  said :  "  Now  I 
have  too  much  good  sense  to  think  that  you  would 
rather  hear  me  preach  than  hear  the  news."  So  he 
read  the  dispatches,  with  your  editorial,  which  was  fre- 
quently cheered  by  the  congregation.  .  .  .  We  are 
to  have  a  grand  wood  donation  for  the  families  of  sol- 
diers on  Saturday.  Governor  Tod,  Dr.  G.  V.  Dorsey, 
and  others  will  be  here.  There  will  be  a  free  dinner 
and  a  flag  for  the  school  district  bringing  the  largest 
amount  of  supplies. 

And  the  second  extract  contains  still  further 
details  of  the  part  which  the  author  took  on  that 
memorable  day : 

After  the  usual  exercises  of  singing  and  prayer 
had  been  concluded,  the  Rev.  Colonel  Moody  came 
forward  and  made  one  of  the  most  stirring,  elo- 
quent, and  patriotic  addresses  ever  delivered  to  an 
American  audience.  Some  of  the  points  were  so  ad- 
mirably made,  and  so  fired  the  audience  with  patriot- 
ism, that  they  spontaneously  gave  way  to  applause, 
forgetting,  possibly,  the  decorum  due  to  such  a  place. 
But  the  colonel  did  not  rebuke  them.  How  could 
he  ?  Did  he  not  know  that  they  were  enthused  by  a 
pure  patriotism,   and  such   a   manifestation   was   the 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.    435 

generous,  manly,  patriotic  expression  of  loyal  hearts? 
Yes,  too  well  he  knew  it ;  and  he  considered  it  rather 
commendable  than  otherwise,  and  said  it  was  a 
Methodist  "Amen." 

Such  bursts  of  eloquence  and  patriotism  rarely 
have  we  had  the  pleasure  of  listening  to.  Everybody 
was  pleased;  yes,  everybody  was  completely  carried 
away  by  the  magnetism  of  his  lofty  patriotism  and  his 
sublime  eloquence.  It  stirred  the  blood  and  hearts  of 
the  people  to  such  a  degree  that  I  think  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  present  would  then  and  there  have 
willingly  made  a  sacrifice  of  themselves  for  our  glorious 
Constitution,  Government,  and  flag.  Doubtless  Col- 
onel Moody  is  a  good  fighter  in  the  field.  Such  a  man 
would  always  be  brave,  it  is  not  in  him  to  be  other- 
wise ;  but  methinks  his  place  is  the  pulpit  and  the  ros- 
trum. He  can  serve  his  country  better  with  his 
tongue  than  the  sword.  Let  him  then  harangue  the 
people,  and  if  they  have  even  a  latent  particle  of 
patriotism  in  their  composition,  he  will  set  it  all  aglow. 

In  the  address  wThich  he  made  he  spoke  sub- 
stantially as  follows : 

The  appointment  of  a  day  of  National  Thanks- 
giving to  Almighty  God  for  the  signal  victories  with 
which  he  has  been  pleased  to  crown  our  arms,  espe- 
cially during  the  last  month,  has  summoned  us  into 
his  presence,  in  his  temple,  at  this  hour.  During 
the  long  period  of  our  National  prosperity  but  lit- 
tle attention  was  paid  to  the  day  of  Thanksgiving ; 
but  that  brightness  has  been  suddenly  and  partially 
eclipsed.  Scenes  never  before  witnessed,  and  hardly 
deemed  possible,  have  arisen  before  us.  Hundreds 
of  thousands  of  our  citizens,  with  all  the  insignia  and 
munitions  of  war,  have  been  marshaled,  and  still  the 


436  Granville  Moody. 

clarion  sounds,  and  mightier  hosts  are  mustering  for 
the  championship  of  this  vast  continent.  On  the  one 
hand  we  find  treason  and  rebellion — reckless,  defiant, 
and  rampant ;  on  the  other,  patriotism  and  loyalty, 
with  a  deep  conviction  that  not  only  the  glory  but 
the  very  existence  of  the  Nation  is  at  stake.  Prompted 
by  patriotism,  our  young  men  by  thousands  have  taken 
the  field,  and  the  hoarse  war-drum  throbs  on  the 
National  hearts.  War  is  one  of  the  four  sure  judg- 
ments of  God  which,  in  his  providence,  he  brings 
upon  a  nation  to  rebuke  its  wickedness  and  to  make 
it  better  and  happier,  or  to  destroy  it,  and  leave  its 
wreck  a  warning  to  other  nations  that  righteousness 
"exalteth  a  nation,  and  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any 
people." 

On  this  day,  set  apart  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving,  it  becomes  us 
to  review  the  manifold  blessings  bestowed  upon  us  by 
God,  and  cherish  sentiments  of  unbounded  gratitude 
to  that  benign  Providence. 

First.  Let  us  this  day  be  thankful  to  God  for  our 
paternity  as  a  Nation.  God  raised  us  from  pious  and 
excellent  ancestors.  Almost  every  other  nation  rose 
from  a  base  and  degenerate  origin. 

Second.  Let  us  be  thankful  that  our  recent  victo- 
ries have  added  new  glories  to  the  renowned  flag  of 
our  heroic  ancestors.  A  thousand  precious  and  soul- 
stirring  memories  cluster  round  the  old  battle-flag, — 

"Our  country's  flag,  with  lines  of  blood, 
Forever  telling  as  it  waves 
How,  side  by  side,  our  fathers  stood 
And  died,  to  plant  it  on  their  graves." 

It  is  the  glory-streaming  banner  that  has  so  often 
flaunted  defiance  to  our  foes.  This  is  the  banner  that 
the  sons  of  South  Carolina  boast  they  were  the  first 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.    437 

to  dishonor  and  trail  in  the  dust  as  eight  thousand 
traitors  besieged  Fort  Sumter. 

Third.  Let  us  on  this  day  be  thankful  that  God  has 
recently  vouchsafed  to  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
United  States  those  signal  victories  which  warrant 
our  faith  in  the  perpetuity  of  the  Government  of  the 
grandest  Nationality  on  earth.  With  the  greatest  pro- 
priety we  may  exclaim:  "Surely  the  lines  have  fallen 
to  us  in  pleasant  places."  Our  number,  intelligence, 
and  resources  give  us  eminent  rank  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth.  Our  population  exceeds  thirty-five 
millions  of  souls,  and  our  broad  domain  is  washed  by 
the  waters  of  two  oceans.  Our  census-table  shows  a 
duplication  of  our  population  in  every  cycle  of  twenty- 
three  years ;  so  that,  by  the  time  the  infant  now  in  the 
cradle  will  have  reached  manhood,  our  population  will 
amount  to  seventy  millions.  One  flag  floats  over  the 
grandest  domain  on  earth. 

Fourth.  Let  us  be  thankful  this  day  for  the  success 
with  which  God  is  crowning  our  efforts  to  sustain  the 
Union  of  the  States  against  secession,  traitors,  and 
rebels.  Our  fathers  regarded  the  Union  of  the  States 
a  necessity.  Their  condition  then  and  our  condition 
now  demand  it.  The  Union  was  the  creation  of  ne- 
cessities— physical,  moral,  social,  and  political.  The 
Union  of  the  States  in  one  Nationality  is  not  merely 
because  men  choose  that  it  shall  be  so,  but  because 
some  general  government  must  exist  here,  and  no 
other  government  than  this  can  or  should  or  shall 
exist.  This  Government  is  the  property  of  every  citi- 
zen ;  it  is  his  Government ;  he  is  a  part  of  it ;  it  was 
established  for  him,  and  is  maintained  by  him  ;  and  he 
knows,  or  ought  to  know,  that  it  is  the  only  true  and 
equal  Government  that  does  exist,  and  that  no  other 
government  can  be  as  just  and  equal  as  our  own.     By 


438  Granville  Moody. 

this  glorious  Union  we  have  gained  all  our  distinction 
and  success  as  a  people,  and  on  its  maintenance  all  our 
peace  and  safety  depend.  Secession  is  dissolution,  and 
dissolution  is  National  dishonor — ay,  National  death. 
Secession  is  the  hydra  which  Jackson  battled  against. 
Secession  is  a  claim  that  has  never  been  admitted  in 
any  organized  government  on  earth.  Secession  !  It 
forgets  the  thrilling  memories  of  the  past.  How 
utterly  unentitled  to  public  confidence  is  a  man  or 
party  that  would  give* the  least  countenance  to  those 
who,  with  more  than  Vandal  hands,  would  rend  the 
sacred  Temple  of  Liberty  from  turret  to  foundation- 
stone  !  Surely  such  a  man  or  party  is  as  much  an 
enemy  to  the  Government  as  Davis  or  any  other 
plotter  of  rebellion. 

How  deep,  beyond  the  heaviest  plummet  sound- 
ing, must  that  craven-hearted  tool  of  bogus  chivalry 
have  sunk,  who  boasts  that  in  the  darkest  hour 
of  his  country's  peril,  when  men  were  baring  their 
brawny  breasts  to  the  storm  of  war,  and  trembling 
women — mothers,  wives,  and  daughters — were  pray- 
ing in  secret  places  for  their  country's  weal,  that  since 
the  4th  of  July,  1861,  he  has  not  voted  for  an  army  or 
navy  appropriation  bill ;  has  not  voted,  and  will  not 
vote,  a  man  or  a  dollar  to  aid  the  Government  in  its 
efforts  to  conquer  those  who  have  inaugurated  deadly 
war  to  compel  this  glorious  Government  of  our  fathers 
to  submit  to  its  own  dismemberment  and  destruction. 
How  execrable  the  man  who  prostitutes  his  abilities 
to  the  work  of  prejudicing  and  poisoning  the  minds 
of  the  citizens  against  the  Administration  which  seeks 
the  maintenance  of  the  Government  against  rebels 
and  their  domestic  and  foreign  sympathizers ;  who 
speaks  of  our  armies  as  "invading  armies,"  when 
marching  on  our  own  soil  to  maintain  our  own  sover- 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.    439 

eignty  against  traitors  ;  who  counsels  the  "  withdraw- 
ing" of  that  old  flag  and  its  heroic  defenders  from 
the  proud  front  they  occupy  at  Norfolk,  Newbern, 
Hilton  Head,  New  Orleans,  Port  Hudson,  Helena, 
Vicksburg,  St.  Louis,  Louisville,  Nashville,  Murfrees- 
boro,  Shelbyville,  Manchester,  Deckard,  Tullahoma, 
Wheeling,  Baltimore,  and  Annapolis  ! 

Yet  he  would  have  them  ''about  face,"  and  meanly 
march  in  retreat  over  the  bloody  "  fields  where  our 
glory  was  won,"  and  ignore  the  victories  of  Carnifex 
Ferry,  Laurel  Mountain,  Mill  Springs,  Fort  Donelson, 
Island  No.  10,  Winchester,  Pea  Ridge,  Stone  River, 
and  Gettysburg,  saying  in  humiliation  and  grief, 

"  O  no,  we  never  mention  them, 
Their  names  are  never  heard!" 

And  thus  retreating  from  the  surrendered  soil  now 
doubly  dear  and  sacred,  and  our  own  by  its  bap- 
tisms of  blood  of  brave  and  loyal  men,  we  must  leave 
our  cherished  rights  and  prized  Nationality  to  the 
watershed  argument  of  "  their  kind  of  a  man,"  and 
to  the  decision  of  the  Yanceys,  Rhetts,  Toombses, 
Breckenridges,  Braggs,  Pembertons,  Johnstons,  Yu- 
lees,  Benjamins,  Wigfalls,  Wises,  Cobbs,  Floyds,  Polks, 
Harrises,  Jefferson  Davises,  and  the  devil.  Leave  the 
lamb  with  the  wolf;  leave  the  goose  with  the  fox; 
leave  gold  with  a  thief;  leave  helpless  innocence  with 
the  debauchee,  when  you  leave  our  Nationality  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  traitors  and  rebels,  or  elevate  such 
a  man  to  be  governor  of  Ohio.  Preposterous,  out- 
rageous, contemptible  counsel !  almost  equaling  the 
audacity  of  Satan  himself,  when  he  proposed  to  Im- 
manuel,  the  Christ,  to  fall  down  and  worship  him, 
engaging  to  give  the  Savior  the  whole  world,  with  all 
its   kingdoms,  as   a   consideration,   when,  poor  devil, 


44-o  Granville  Moody. 

he  had  no  more  right  to  the  proposed  gift  than  Da- 
vis and  company  have  to  the  territory  of  the  United 
States,  or  the  adviser  of  our  National  dishonor  has  to 
the  suffrage  of  a  true  patriot.  Surely  such  a  man  is  as 
much  an  enemy  to  the  unity  of  the  Government  as 
Davis  or  any  plotter  of  rebellion  anywhere,  and  infi- 
nitely less  courageous  and  magnanimous. 

Withdraw  our  armies  from  Maryland,  Virginia, 
North  and  South  Carolina,  Florida,  Alabama,  Missis- 
sippi, Texas,  Missouri,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and 
Georgia;  withdraw  your  gun-boats  from  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  your  monitors  and  line-of-battle  ships  from 
the  coasts  of  the  Rebel  States,  and  leave  the  question  of 
our  Nationality  to  Davis,  Stephens,  and  Toombs  !  Was 
ever  such  a  proposition  cherished  in  all  the  records  of 
sin  in  all  the  world?  Surely  of  its  author  we  may 
exclaim:  "Out  ingrate,  an  hyperbole  of  meanness 
would  be  an  ellipsis  for  thee!"  'Twill  be  a  marvel 
and  a  wonder  if  any  shall  be  found  so  mean  as  to  do 
him  reverence. 

"The  Negro,  all  dark  in  his  glen, 

Is  nobler  and  better  than  thou; 
Thou  standest  a  wonder  and  marvel  to  men, 

Such  perfidy  blackens  thy  brow. 
If  thou  wert  my  brother  by  birth, 

At  once  from  thine  arms  I  would  sever; 
I  would  own  thee  nowhere  upon  earth, 

And  quit  thee  forever  and  ever,; 
And  thinking  of  thee,  in  my  long  after  years, 
Should  but  kindle  my  blushes  and  call  forth  my  tears." 

But  it  is  our  rejoicing  that  whilst  this  would-be 
governor  of  Ohio  is  counseling  the  withdrawal  of 
our  armies,  as  he  speaks,  ex  cathedra,  from  beneath 
the  folds  of  the  British  flag,  and  from  British  soil 
fulminates  his  anathemas  against  our  cause,  Almighty 
God,  by  the  stern  logic  of  events  is  saying  to  us,  in 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.    441 

the  recent  victories  of  Vicksburg,  Port  Hudson,  Tul- 
lahoma,  Gettysburg,  and  the  extinction  of  Morgan 
and  his  marauding  bands,  Onward  and  still  onward 
with  Freedom's  banners,  because  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness in  the  earth.  And  for  these  signal  tokens 
of  God's  approval  we  should  be  grateful. 

During  the  session  of  the  General  Conference 
of  1864,  which  met  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania, 
I  had  the  honor  and  pleasure,  as  a  member  of  a 
committee  of  five,  consisting  of  Bishop  E.  R.  Ames, 
Joseph  Cummings,  George  Peck,  Charles  Elliott, 
and  myself,  to  bear  the  congratulations  of  the 
conference  to  President  Lincoln  on  the  general 
success  of  our  country's  cause.  Our  visit  occurred 
during  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness.  On  our 
trip  from  Philadelphia  on  the  cars,  the  question 
was  asked,  How  shall  we  proceed  in  Washington  ? 
I  stated  to  the  committee  that  if  they  would  permit, 
I  would  take  the  document  to  President  Lincoln 
and  leave  it  to  him  to  arrange  the  hour  and  detail 
of  our  interview.  To  this  they  agreed.  I  went 
to  the  White  House  and  told  the  President's  sec- 
retary of  our  presence  and  mission,  and  asked  him 
to  procure  me  an  interview  with  the  President, 
which  he  did  with  promptness  and  pleasure. 

I  was  familiar  with  the  President,  and  showed 
him  the  missive  of  the  conference.  He  said : 
"Colonel  Moody,  how  came  you  to  do  this?  It  is 
the  very  thing  I  would  have  asked  you  to  do  had 
I  had  your  ear.  I  will  give  you  audience  at  ten 
o'clock  A.  M.  to-morrow.  Just  Leave  the  address 
with    me.     I    will    study   it    to-night,    and   write 


442  Granville  Moody. 

my  reply.  Give  my  highest  respects  to  the 
committee." 

We  were  promptly  received  at  the  appointed 
hour  and  place  by  the  President  and  his  Cabinet. 
That  group  furnished  a  scene  for  a  painter.  In 
the  center  of  the  semicircle  of  his  Cabinet,  mas- 
ter spirits  of  the  Nation,  stood  in  all  the  angu- 
larity of  his  person,  in  all  the  simplicity,  hon- 
esty, patriotism,  and  well-balanced  self-will,  with 
unpretending  greatness  and  somber  grandeur, 
Abraham  Lincoln.  There  stood  canny,  courtly 
William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State  ;  the  short, 
solid,  curt,  statue-like  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secre- 
tary of  War,  who,  amid  all  those  dark  and  s*tormy 
times,  stood  like  a  rugged  rock  amid  ocean  surges, 
with  thunders  bursting  o'er  his  head ;  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  dark,  phlegmatic,  significant  as  an  oracle. 
On  the  opposite  semicircle  stood  the  kingly 
Bishop  Ames ;  the  learned  Charles  Elliott ;  the 
scholarly  Joseph  Cummings,  President  of  the 
Wesleyan  University  at  Middletown  ;  the  courtly 
George  Peck,  of  New  York,  and  myself. 

Bishop  Ames  introduced  his  colleagues  of  the 
committee  to  the  President  and  Cabinet  and  the 
distinguished  persons  present,  stated  the  object  of 
the  visit,  and  requested  the  secretary  of  the  com- 
mittee, Dr.  Cummings,  to  read  the  "Address  of  the 
General  Conference,"  which  he  did,  as  follows : 

To  His  Excellency,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States  : 
The  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  now  in  session  in  Philadelphia,  repre- 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.    443 

senting  nearly  seven  thousand  ministers  and  nearly  a 
million  of  members,  mindful  of  their  duty  as  Christian 
citizens,  take  the  earliest  opportunity  to  express  to 
you  the  assurance  of  the  loyalty  of  the  Church,  her 
earnest  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  country,  and 
her  sympathy  with  you  in  the  great  responsibilities  of 
your  high  position  in  this  trying  hour. 

With  exultation  we  point  to  the  record  01  our 
Church,  as  having  never  been  tarnished  by  disloyalty. 
She  was  the  first  of  the  Churches  to  express,  by  a  depu- 
tation of  her  most  distinguished  ministers,  promise 
of  support  to  the  Government  in  the  days  of  Wash- 
ington. In  her  Articles  of  Religion  she  has  enjoined 
loyalty  as  a  duty,  and  has  ever  given  to  the  Govern- 
ment her  most  decided  support.  In  this  present  strug- 
gle for  the  National  life,  many  thousands  of  her 
members,  and  a  large  number  of  her  ministers  have 
rushed  to  arms  to  maintain  the  cause  of  God  and  hu- 
manity. They  have  sealed  their  devotion  to  their 
country  with  their  blood  on  every  battle-field  of  this 
terrible  war. 

We  regard  this  dreadful  scourge  now  desolating 
our  land,  and  wasting  the  Nation's  life,  as  the  result 
of  a  most  unnatural,  utterly  unjustifiable  rebellion ; 
involving  the  crime  of  treason  against  the  best  of  hu- 
man governments,  and  sin  against  God.  It  required 
our  Government  to  submit  to  its  own  dismemberment 
and  destruction,  leaving  it  no  alternative  but  to  pre- 
serve the  National  integrity  by  the  use  of  National 
resources.  If  the  Government  had  failed  to  use 
its  power  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  Nation  and 
maintain  its  authority,  it  would  have  been  justly  ex- 
posed to  the  wrath  of  Heaven,  and  to  the  reproach 
and  scorn  of  the  civilized  world. 

Our  earnest  and  constant  prayer  is  that  this  cruel  and 


444  Granville  Moody. 

wicked  rebellion  may  be  speedily  suppressed,  and  we 
pledge  you  our  hearty  co-operation  in  all  appropriate 
means  to  secure  this  object. 

Loyal  and  hopeful  in  National  adversity,  in  pros- 
perity thankful,  we  most  heartily  congratulate  you  on 
the  glorious  victories  recently  gained,  and  rejoice  in 
the  belief  that  our  complete  triumph  is  near. 

We  believe  that  our  National  sorrows  and  calami- 
ties have  resulted,  in  a  great  degree,  from  our  forget- 
fulness  of  God  and  oppression  of  our  fellow-men. 
Chastened  by  affliction,  may  the  Nation  humbly  repent 
of  her  sins,  lay  aside  her  haughty  pride,  honor  God 
in  all  future  legislation,  and  render  justice  to  all  who 
have  been  wronged !  We  honor  you  for  your  procla- 
mations of  liberty,  and  rejoice  in  all  the  acts  of 
the  Government  designed  to  secure  freedom  to  the 
enslaved. 

We  trust  that  when  military  usages  and  necessities 
shall  justify  interference  with  established  institutions, 
and  the  removal  of  wrongs  sanctioned  by  law,  the 
occasion  will  be  improved,  not  merely  to  injure  our 
foes  and  increase  the  National  resources,  but  also  as 
an  opportunity  to  recognize  our  obligations  to  God, 
and  to  honor  his  law.  We  pray  that  the  time  may 
speedily  come  when  this  shall  be  truly  a  republican 
and  free  country,  in  no  part  of  which,  either  State  or 
Territory,  shall  slavery  be  known. 

The  prayers  of  millions  of  Christians,  with  an 
earnestness  never  manifested  for  rulers  before,  daily 
ascend  to  heaven  that  you  may  be  endued  with  all 
needed  wisdom  and  power.  Actuated  by  the  senti- 
ments of  the  loftiest  and  purest  patriotism,  our  prayer 
shall  be  continually  for  the  preservation  of  our  country 
undivided,  for  the  triumph  of  our  cause,  and  for 
a    permanent    peace,   gained   by   the   sacrifice   of  no 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.    445 

moral  principles,  but  founded  on  the  Word  of  God, 
and  securing  righteousness,  liberty,  and  equal  rights 
to  all. 

Signed  in  behalf  of  the  General  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Philadelphia,  May 
14,  1864. 

President  Lincoln  bowed  to  the  committee,  and 
accepted  the  paper  from  Dr.  Cutnmings,  and  pleas- 
antly said:  "Gentlemen,  by  the  forethought  and 
kindness  of  one  of  your  committee,  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  reading  your  noble  address  ;  and,  as  you 
have  addressed  me  in  writing,  allow  me  to  respond 
in  like  manner."  He  then  opened  the  drawer 
of  his  desk  and  took  out  his  response,  which  has 
thrilled  the  heart  of  the  Nation,  and  was,  indeed, 
an  amaranthine  wreath  placed  upon  the  brow  of 
Methodism  in  that  august  presence.     He  said  : 

Gentlemen, — In  response  to  your  address,  allow 
me  to  attest  the  accuracy  of  its  historical  statements, 
indorse  the  sentiments  it  expresses,  and  thank  you,  in 
the  Nation's  name,  for  the  sure  promise  it  gives. 
Nobly  sustained,  as  the  Government  has  been  by  all 
the  Churches,  I  would  utter  nothing  which  might  in 
the  least  appear  invidious  against  any.  Yet,  without 
this,  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  not  less  devoted  than  the  best,  is  by 
its  greater  numbers,  the  most  important  of  all.  It  is 
no  fault  in  others  that  the  Methodist  Church  sends 
more  soldiers  to  the  field,  more  nurses  to  the  hos- 
pitals, and  more  prayers  to  heaven  than  any.  God 
bless  the  Methodist  Church,  bless  all  the  Churches, 
and  blessed  be  God  who,  in  this  great  trial,  giveth  us 
the  Churches ! 


446  Granville  Moody. 

At  the  instance  of  Solomon  Howard,  D.  D., 
and  others,  and  entirely  without  my  knowledge,  in 
1864  the  Indiana  University  conferred  on  me  the 
title  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  This  doctorate  was 
an  unexpected  honor.  I  desire  to  be  found  worthy 
of  it.  The  following  letter  conveyed  to  me  the 
intelligence : 

BloomingTON,  Ind.,  July  4,  1864. 
Rev.  G.  Moody,  Piqua,  Ohio : 

Dear  Brother, — I  have  the  pleasure  of  inform- 
ing you  that  the  degree  of  D.  D.,  pro  merito,  was  con- 
ferred upon  you  by  the  Indiana  State  University  at 
the  recent  Commencement.  No  diplomas  are  given 
for  honorary  degrees  at  this  intitution,  but  you  will  be 
officially  informed  by  the  secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees.     Truly  and  fraternally  yours, 

C.  Nutt, 
President  of  the  Indiana  State  University. 

In  1864,  in  the  month  of  September,  I  was  in 
Washington  City,  and  met  Hon.  Samuel  Galloway 
at  the  White  House,  and  we  were  heartily  wel- 
comed by  President  Lincoln  in  his  public  office. 
We  were  invited  to  meet  him  that  evening  at 
seven  o'clock  in  his  private  apartments,  and  we 
three  had  a  singularly  friendly  and  profitable  inter- 
view. The  President  sat  in  a  large  easy-chair, 
and  we  at  his  right  and  left.  We  discussed  in 
free  conversation  the  times,  the  President  leading 
the  conversation.     Among  other  things  he  said : 

"I  tell  you,  Mr.  Galloway,  Parson  Moody's 
Church  has  wielded  a  controlling  influence  in 
these  times.  Her  bishops,  presiding  elders,  and 
pastors  have  a  wonderful   formative  influence   on 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.    447 

the  masses  of  the  people.  And  then  their  con- 
trolling anti-slavery  influence  has  leavened  the 
whole  lump.  Her  weekly  papers  make  her  ubiqui- 
tous and  potential.  We  never  wouid  have  gotten 
through  this  crusade  without  the  steady  influence 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  so  potential 
in  its  philanthropy.  The  Government  is  greatly 
indebted  to  Methodism  in  the  cause  of  personal 
and  national  freedom.  Her  question,  'What  shall 
be  done  for  the  extirpation  of  the  great  evil 
of  slavery?'  and  her  answer,  'We  believe  that  the 
buying,  selling,  or  holding  of  human  beings,  to  be 
used  as  chattels,  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God 
and  nature,  and  inconsistent  with  the  Golden 
Rule,'  as  well  as  her  General  Rules,  discoun- 
tenance or  prohibit  slaveholding.  Mr.  Wesley 
understood  slavery  when  he  said,  '  American 
slavery  is  the  vilest  that  ever  saw  the  sun,'  and 
when  he  declared  the  slave-trade  to  be  the  '  sum  of 
all  villainies.'  The  other  Christian  Churches  hold 
similar  views,  but  the  Methodist  Church  was  more 
outspoken,  and  unfrocked  Bishop  Andrew  for 
becoming  and  remaining  a  slaveholding  bishop  ; 
and  that  became  the  crucial  test,  and  faithfully 
the  Methodist  Church  met  the  issue  that  was  thus 
episcopally  forced  upon  it. 

"But  you  ask  me  about  emancipation.  When 
Lee  undertook  to  march  his  pro-slavery  columns  on 
the  Northern  and  Free  States,  I  saw  a  crisis  was 
imminent ;  and  when  he  headed  his  army  for  An- 
tietam  I  saw  that  the  dread  and  impending  crisis 
was    at    our   very   doors.     Gentlemen,  I  will   tell 


448  Granville  Moody. 

you  my  experience.  I  came  alone  into  this  room, 
and  knelt  down,  and  with  directness  I  told  the 
Lord  that  Lee  was  marching  on  Washington,  and 
was  now  on  Northern  soil,  and  said  :  l  Now,  Lord, 
if  thou  wilt  give  him  a  backset,  and  our  forces 
drive  him  back,  and  thus  save  our  National  exist- 
ence, I  will  assert  the  inherent  right  of  the  National 
Government  to  conserve  its  own  interests  and  pre- 
serve its  existence  by  emancipating  the  .slaves  in 
the  States  in  rebellion  against  the  General  Govern- 
ment. As  slaveholders  are  actually  using  slavery 
to  destroy  the  Nation,  it  is  obviously  and  indis- 
putably the  right  and  duty  of  the  Executive  to 
destroy  that  which  is  and  will  be  used  as  the 
means  of  destroying  the  National  existence.  Lord, 
if  thou  wilt  discomfit,  dismay,  and  defeat  Lee  in 
the  coming  conflict,  I  will  abolish  slavery  as  a 
military  necessity.  So  help  me  God !  I  will.  I 
ask  this  in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord.     Amen.' 

"  Well,  Lee  was  driven  back  into  Virginia.  The 
vows  of  God  were  on  me  to  do  as  I  had  said.  In 
this  room  I  wrote  the  document,  and  four  days  after 
the  battle  of  Antietam  I  called  my  Cabinet  to- 
gether to  let  them  know  my  decision.  I  read  the 
paper  carefully  to  them,  and  paused  for  their  opin- 
ions. There  was  ominous  silence.  At  length  Mr. 
Chase  said  it  was  premature  ;  Mr.  Welles  agreed 
with  him  ;  Mr.  Seward  said  it  was  right,  but  he 
thought  it  premature  ;  Mr.  Smith  thought  it  would 
be  ominous  of  ill ;  Mr.  Blair  advised  delay ;  Mr. 
Bates   dreaded  its  effects  upon  our  armies  in  the 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.   449 

field ;  only  Mr.  Stanton  heartily  agreed  with  my 
views,  and  said :   'Let  it  go  forth  and  do  its  work.' 

i;I  said:  'Gentlemen,  I  did  not  bring  this  be- 
fore yon  for  discussion,  but  to  apprise  you  of  my. 
intention.'  I  then  recounted  my  prayer  and  vow, 
and  added :  '  Gentlemen,  God  accepted  my  tendered 
pledge,  and  I  hereby  fulfill  my  vow.'  " 

During  the  years  1869,  1870,  and  187 1  the 
author  was  stationed  at  Grace  Church,  in  New- 
port, Kentucky.  His  associations  with  the  Ken- 
tucky preachers  were  pleasant,  and  he  was  well 
received  by  them  when  transferred  to  their  confer- 
ence. The  following  incident  must  be  given  in 
the  words  of  another  (Rev.  Amon  Boreing).  O 
that  God's  historic  people  were  chosen  not  only 
in  Abraham  but  in  Christ ! 

In  the  spring  of  1871  the  Kentucky  Conference 
convened  in  Louisville.  Rev.  Granville  Moody  was 
in  attendance,  being  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Conference.  The  very  handsome  Jewish  syna- 
gogue, on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Sixth  Streets, 
had  just  been  completed  and  furnished.  Dr.  Moody 
and  myself,  taking  a  stroll  along  the  streets,  chanced 
to  pass  that  way,  and  the  door  being  open  Dr.  Moody 
said:  "Let's  go  in."  We  did  so.  Just  back  of  the 
reading-desk,  beyond  the  center  of  the  synagogue, 
was  a  wardrobe,  the  door  of  which  was  open.  Dr. 
Moody  went  up  to  it,  took  out  the  rabbi's  turban,  put 
it  on,  and  said:  "Now  you  sit  down  and  I'll  preach 
you  a  gospel  sermon.  You  will  find  my  text  in 
the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  first  chapter,  seventeenth 
verse :  '  For  the  law  was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace 
and    truth    came     by    Jesus    Christ.' "      He    briefly 

33       - 


450  Granville  Moody. 

expounded  the  text,  and  then  said :  "  This  is  the  first, 
and  perhaps  will  be  the  last,  time  you  will  hear  Christ 
preached  in  a  Jewish  synagogue.  And  that  is  n't  all ; 
we  had  better  be  getting  out  of  here." 

We  went  to  the  church  where  the  conference  was 
held,  and  found  a  little  cluster  of  preachers  standing  at 
the  doors.  Dr.  Moody  began  to  tell  that  he  had  on  one 
occasion  preached  in  a  Jewish  synagogue  from  John 
i,  17,  repeating  the  outlines  of  his  sermon  just  as  he  had 
given  them  to  me.  They  did  not  believe  him,  think- 
ing he  was  joking.  He  called  me,  and  said:  "Here  is  a 
man  that  was  present  on  the  occasion,  and  heard  me." 
Of  course  I  affirmed  the  truth  of  his  statement. 
Then,  after  having  as  much  amusement  as  he  desired, 
he  explained  how  it  was. 

Early  in  September,  1873,  *  arrived  at  Ripley, 
Ohio.  At  the  conference  session  that  year  I  had 
been  appointed  by  Bishop  Ames  presiding  elder 
of  the  Ripley  District.  The  day  after  my  arrival, 
whilst  I  was  hard  at  work  in  the  parsonage  of 
the  district,  at  about  three  o'clock  P.  M.,  a  staid 
and  courteous  man  entered  the  parlor  and  intro- 
duced himself  as  D.  H.  Hamilton,  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  After  the  usual  civilities, 
he  said:  "I  have  heard  so  much  about  you  in 
this  locality  as  an  actor  in  the  Church  Militant,  and 
as  militant  for  our  country  as  well,  that  I  have 
waived  all  ceremony  of  introduction  and  come 
thus  early  to  bid  you  welcome,  sir,  to  Ripley,  the 
theater  of  your  former  labors;  and  especially  to 
welcome  you  to  myself  as  a  fellow-laborer  in  pro- 
claiming the  glad  tidings  of  the  gospel  of  our 
common  Savior." 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.    451 

I  was  delighted  with  his  style,  manners,  and 
spirit,  and  fully  reciprocated  the  cordial  greeting, 
and  anticipated  the  joy  and  profit,  proved  in  after 
years,  of  the  society  of  this  genuine  Christian, 
polished  gentleman,  profound  scholar,  and  original 
thinker.  Strange  to  relate,  within  the  lapse  of  ten 
short  minutes  we  found  ourselves  enwrapped  in  the 
quintuple  questions  of  Arminianism  and  Calvin- 
istic  dogmas.  In  that  improvised  disquisition  hours 
rolled  by,  and  still  onward  rolled,  till  that  Septem- 
ber sun  went  down  the  western  sky,  and  be- 
queathed a  parting  smile  on  courtly  theologic 
cavaliers,  whose  keen  debate  had  not  a  single 
auditor  beside  the  writer's  beloved  wife,  Lucretia 
Elizabeth,  who  was  cumbered  with  the  multitudi- 
nous cares  incident  to  our  intinerant  life,  as  we 
also  were  with  cumbrous  polemic  lore.  Her  half- 
reproving  glances  and  courtly  smiles  seemed  to  say 
that  we  were  like  Milton's  fallen  angels,  who  sat 
apart  in  discourse  more  sweet, 

"And  reasoned  high 
Of  providence,  foreknowledge,  will,  and  fate, 
Fixed  fate,  free-will,  foreknowledge  absolute, 
And  found  no  end,  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 

At  the  closing  of  this  singular  interview,  and 
with  his  apology  for  the  interruption  of  a  visit, 
we  parted ;  and  thus  began  an  acquaintance  which 
ripened  into  the  firmest  friendship,  and  bore  the 
fruits  of  heaven  upon  earth. 

In  1876  the  writer  was  a  member  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference,  which  met  that  year  in  Balti- 
more.    On    the    fourth   day    of    the    session    the 


452  Granville  Moody. 

Address  of  the  Bishops  was  read.     The  following 
extract  is  made  from  a  paper  of  the  period : 

The  Episcopal  Address  read  on  Thursday  morn- 
ing is  a  document  of  more  than  ordinary  force.  It 
was  well  read  by  the  senior  bishop,  Janes,  who  is 
believed  to  be  the  writer.  A  number  of  passages 
were  strikingly  eloquent,  and  elicited  vehement  bursts 
of  applause.  Of  course  it  was  eminently  conserva- 
tive in  tone,  giving  little  support  to  recent  projects 
of  reform.  The  manner  in  which  the  address  was 
received  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  conference 
is  preponderatingly  conservative,  but  probably  not  so 
much  so  as  to  be  unwilling  for  any  modifications. 

Brother  Granville  Moody  gave  us  one  of  his  finest 
specimens  of  Western  eloquence  immediately  after  the 
reading  of  the  address.  It  was  really  one  of  the  best 
things  of  the  kind  that  we  have  heard  for  a  long  time — 
perfectly  spontaneous,  and  poured  forth  like  a  mountain 
torrent,  carrying  everything  before  it.  It  raised  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  audience  to  the  highest  pitch.  We 
give  it  here : 

"  Mr.  President, — I  stand,  sir,  in  this  presence,  pro- 
foundly impressed  with  the  magnificent  address  of  our 
episcopate.  I  rejoice  in  the  accuracy  of  its  historic 
lore.  I  stand  impressed  with  the  profound  philoso- 
phy of  its  acute  analysis,  its  heroic  grappling  with 
the  living  issues  of  the  day,  and  its  masterly  vindica- 
tion of  the  strength  of  its  positions,  the  justification 
of  its  instrumentalities,  its  grouping  of  facts,  and  its 
clear  and  keen  logic ;  and  I  feel  that  this  address  be- 
longs to  the  commonwealth  of  Methodism  in  both 
hemispheres  and  in  all  its  branches ;  that  it  should  go 
to  every  lonely  cabin  and  every  palatial  residence ; 
that  it  should  be  sent  to  the  officers  of  our  army  and 


More  Fragments  of  Clerical  Life.    453 

navy  [laughter]  ;  that  it  should  be  sent  from  center  to 
circumference  [laughter  and  applause]  ;  that  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  should  be  cheered  by  its 
utterances ;  and  that  its  thunder-tones  should  fall  like 
the  knell  of  destiny  on  the  ear  of  the  octogenarian 
usurper  of  the  headship  of  the  Church  of  God  at 
Rome,  which  belongs  to  Christ  alone.  [Laughter  and 
applause.]  I  claim,  sir,  that  this  glorious  address 
should  be  spread  before  the  country  until  Antichrist 
and  Antichristian  influences  shall  be  rim-racked  and 
center- shaken  [laughter]  by  its  facts  and  reasonings 
and  prolepsis  of  the  future. 

"Why,  sir,  the  spirit  that  would  have  led  an  ancient 
Roman  to  say  proudly,  'I  am  a  Roman  citizen,'  leads 
me,  under  the  same  inspiration  to  say,  first,  I  am  an 
American  citizen ;  and,  secondly,  I  am  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  [Great  applause.] 
And  as  there  is  nothing  so  successful  as  success,  which 
blesses  everything  it  touches,  let  us  thank  our  God 
for  success,  as  portrayed  in  the  Episcopal  Address  to 
which  we  have  listened.  And  I  thank  God  that  this 
old  historic  Church,  which  antedates  our  Govern- 
ment in  its  organization,  and  whose  organization  in 
this  city  distinguishes  Baltimore  as  the  Mother  of 
Methodism  and  the  'Monumental  City,'  shall  con- 
tinue to  gather  elements  of  power  around  the  foun- 
dations of  our  glorious  country  in  the  future  as  in 
the  past,  till  every  citizen  thereof  shall  say,  '  May  her 
influence  be  perpetuated  while  earth  bears  a  flower  or 
ocean  rolls  a  wave !' 

"Profoundly  impressed  with  its  paramount  and 
permanent  importance,  I  therefore  move  that  this  ad- 
dress be  published  in  every  Church  paper  under  our 
patronage ;  that  it  be  spread  upon  the  pages  of  the 
Daily  Christian  Advocate,  and  that  it  be  put  in  pam- 


454  Granville  Moody. 

phlet  form,  to  go  where  the  paper  will  not  go.  I  want 
a  hundred  to  send  to  relatives  and  friends  who  are 
not  members  of  this  branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
but  yet  are  interested  in  the  spread  of  Christ's  king- 
dom. I  want  to  send  a  copy,  handsomely  gotten  up, 
to  my  Presbyterian  and  Congregationalist  and  Baptist 
friends,  that  they  may  know  that  we  are  thoroughly 
abreast  of  the  age  in  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel 
mission  to  the  wide,  wide  world.  I  therefore  move, 
if  I  can  get  a  second  to  my  motion,  that  the  address 
be  published  as  I  have  indicated." 

This  motion  was  seconded  by  Erastus  O. 
Haven,  and  adopted.  The  pamphlet  edition  was, 
by  vote  of  the  conference,  fixed  at  five  thousand 
copies. 


Superannuation.  455 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

SUPERANNUATION. 

HAVING  finished  his  pastorate  in  Hamilton  in 
1880,  the  author  was  that  year  appointed 
to  Jamestown,  a  delightful  village  in  Greene 
County.  While  serving  the  charge  during  his 
second  year,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  enter- 
ing the  ministry  occurred.  His  friends  in  James- 
town and  elsewhere  took  occasion  to  celebrate 
the  event  in  a  becoming  manner,  an  account  of 
which  is  here  given.  It  is  clipped  from  the 
Xenia  Torchlight: 

Last  Saturday  (March  4,  1882)  was  made  the  occa- 
sion of  a  very  pleasant  surprise  to  Rev.  Dr.  Moody,  of 
Jamestown.  The  date  was  the  completion  of  fifty 
years  since  he  preached  his  first  sermon.  The  occa- 
sion, with  all  its  appointments,  was  truly  delightful, 
and  so  perfect  a  surprise  to  the  pastor  (his  wife  was 
in  the  secret)  that  he  was  able  to  declare,  "  I  had  not 
even  a  scintillation  of.it.  Let  it  never  be  said  again 
that  a  woman  can  not  keep  a  secret."  Dr.  Moody  met 
the  surprise  without  any  undue  excitement,  but  with  a 
cordiality  and  quiet  dignity  of  demeanor  that  were  sim- 
ply charming.  After  dinner  Mrs.  S.  Y.  Conwell  read 
a  short  paper  containing  reminiscences  of  the  Doctor's 
pastorate  in  Zanesville  thirty  years  ago.  Then  fol- 
lowed speeches  (timely,  interesting,  and  beautiful) 
from  several  ministers  and  laymen.  To  all  these  Dr. 
Moody  replied,  as  only  he  can,  bringing  smiles  to  the 


456  Granville  Moody. 

lips  and  tears  to  the  eyes  of  all  present,  while  he  could 
not  conceal  his  own  emotion.  In  the  course  of  his 
remarks  he  paid  one  of  the  most  exquisitely  touching 
and  beautiful  tributes  to  his  excellent  wife,  the  com- 
panion of  forty-six  years,  which  it  has  ever  been  our 
good  fortune  to  hear.  To  which  Mrs  Moody,  with 
humor,  rejoined  (truthfully,  we  suspect)  :  "Pa  never 
could  have  got  along  without  me."  "Amen  !"  piously 
ejaculated  the  devoted  husband.  About  five  o'clock 
P.  M.,  after  singing,  prayer,  and  benediction,  full  of 
pathos,  as  well  as  devotion,  the  company  dispersed 
with  many  fervent  hand-clasps,  each  declaring  that 
that  day  would  forever  be  a  green  spot  in  memory, 
and  adding,  "  I  am  so  glad  it  was  my  privilege  to 
come." 

The  following  letter  from  his  eldest  daughter, 
Mrs.  Clifford  N.  Fyffe,  was  read  on  the  occasion. 
It  is  dated  from  34  Washington  Street,  Norfolk, 
Virginia,  March  2,  1882,  and  is  here  presented,  as 
it  gives  an  inside  view  of  a  pastor's  life  as  it 
appeared  to  a  younger  member  of  the  family: 

My  Dear  Father, — Mother  writes  asking  me  to 
come  home  to  be  present  on  next  Saturday,  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  your  entrance  into  the  ministry.  I 
wish  very  much  that  I  could,  do  so,  but  it  is  quite 
impossible;  so  I  write  this  letter  instead,  to  say 
that  there  is  nothing  in  which  I  feel  so  great  pride 
and  satisfaction  as  in  the  contemplation  of  your  career. 
Its  length  so  unusual,  its  character  so  honorable,  hon- 
ored, and  useful,  surely  make  reasonable  ground  for 
such  feeling. 

Having  at  the  threshold  of  manhood  met  that  won- 
derful experience,  the  conversion  that  so  literally 
"turned  you  toward  and  with"  God,  it  was  inevitable 


Superannuation.  457 

that  you  should  be  ''separated  unto  the  gospel  of 
God"  and  become  a  "worker  together  with  him." 
Your  mind  being  so  uplifted  by  that  experience,  your 
life  had  to  be  brought  up  to  a  plane  where  the 
weapons  of  a  carnal  warfare  lose  their  edge  and  temper, 
and  only  the  panoply  of  God  can  fitly  arm  for  the 
fight.  The  spiritual  field  is  the  grand  arena  whereon 
can  be  exercised  all  knightly  virtues,  and  surely  the 
opening  was  a  vast  one  that  the  young  State  of  Ohio 
furnished  fifty  years  ago,  in  its  then  almost  pioneer 
period,  to  the  pioneer  preachers  of  the  Methodist 
Church.  Paul,  their  great  prototype,  in  his  "glory- 
ing "  could  not  much  outdo  their  claim.  If  he  could 
boast  of  "labors  abundant,  of  journey ings  often,  of 
perils  by  water,  of  perils  by  his  own  countrymen,  of 
perils  by  the  heathen,  of  perils  in  the  city,  of  perils 
in  the  wilderness,  of  perils  among  false  brethren,  of 
weariness  and  painfulness,  of  watchings  often,  of  hun- 
ger and  thirst,  of  fastings  and  cold  and  nakedness" — 
of  all  these  things  the  early  itinerants  had  also  their 
share,  as  well  as  that  daily  came  upon  them,  as  upon 
Paul,  the  care  of  the  Churches. 

If  there  lacked  to  them  the  beatings  and  stonings, 
the  stripes  and  imprisonments,  were  there  not  the 
"narrow  means,"  the  long  absences  from  home  on  the 
circuit,  during  which  children  might  be  born  or  slip 
out  of  life — anxiety  and  care  upon  the  points  that 
touch  men  most  keenly?  What  would  have  rendered 
such  a  life  bearable  but  that  they  also  shared  Paul's 
other  and  higher  glorying,  that  "in  spirit"  they  "were 
caught  up  to  the  third  heaven,  and  heard  unspeakable 
things,  so  that  whether  they  were  in  the  body  or  out 
of  the  body  they  knew  not?"  Therefore  they  "took 
pleasure  in  infirmities  and  distresses  and  necessities, 
and  found  their  weakness  strength,  and  in  all  patience 

39 


458  Granville  Moody. 

wrought  the  work  of  apostles  with  signs  and  wonders 
and  mighty  deeds." 

But  life  was  not  all  hardship.  There  were  not  only 
spiritual  but  material  compensations.  A  fair  and  fruit- 
ful land,  dear  and  close  friendships,  a  growing  and 
broadening  culture,  and,  as  life  passed  and  families  grew, 
it  could  be  seen  that  there  were  worse  lots  in  life  than 
to  be  a  Methodist  preacher's  children.  Yearly  I  grow 
more  and  more  glad  that  I  was  one  of  that  class. 
The  Church  gave  us  a  stead}7,  if  limited,  physical  pro- 
vision. We  had  always  the  parsonage  shelter,  food  to 
eat,  and  raiment  to  put  on  ;  and  these,  as  well  as  our 
social  status  and  educational  opportunities,  were  really 
always  of  the  best.  In  the  educational  matter  we  had 
both  the  Methodist  Church  and  the  State  of  Ohio  at 
our  back.  Consider  the  children  of  any  other  class  of 
men,  and  what  better  has  life  done  for  them  than  for 
preachers'  children  ?  That  they  are  worse  than  other 
people's  children  has  been  said,  but  there  is  no  foun- 
dation in  fact  for  the  statement.  Take  at  random  the 
children  of  any  ten  preachers  in  the  Cincinnati  Con- 
ference, and  their  careers  will  disprove  the  slander. 

The  itinerants'  wives,  on  whom  came  their  full 
share  of  life's  hardships,  the  necessary  strict  economy, 
the  frequent  movings,  the  unaccustomed  duties, — 
what  women  they  were  and  are,  the  pick  and 
flower  of  the  choice  Methodist  families  !  There  never 
failed,  at  any  appointment  on  the  circuit,  a  "  great 
woman,"  like  her  of  Shunem,  to  say  to  her  husband, 
with  that  pleasant  authority  that  inheres  in  a  beloved 
house-mother:  "I  perceive  that  this  is  a  holy  man  of 
God  which  passeth  by  continually.  Let  us,  I  pray  thee, 
prepare  a  little  room  for  him,  and  set  there  a  bed  and 
a  table  and  a  chair  and  candlestick,  and  when  he 
cometh  he  shall  turn  in  thither." 


Superannuation.  459 

It  is  the  daughters  of  these  women  who  had  the 
means  and  the  energy  that  enabled,  and  the  hospitable 
souls  that  impelled,  them  to  "  constrain  the  servants 
of  God  to  eat  bread  as  often  as  they  passed  that  way," 
who  are  Methodist  preachers'  wives.  Naturally  se- 
lected "  elect  ladies,"  those  of  them  who  live,  live  to  the 
Lord  and  for  the  Church,  as  mother,  and  many  others 
whose  names  crowd  the  mind.  Those  who  rest  from 
their  labors  died  in  the  Lord,  and  their  memory 
is  fragrant  of  faith  and  good  works.  Who  that  knew 
them  can  forget  the  spiritual  Mrs.  Dustin,  the  gentle 
Mrs.  Simmons,  the  seraphic  Mrs.  Mitchell,  the  saintly 
Mrs.  Michael  Marlay?  Laid  aside  are  the  sober  and 
ofttimes  hardly  obtained  garments  of  earth,  and  lo  ! 
"who  are  these  in  bright  array?"  If  ever,  when 
freed  from  earth,  my  robes  are  so  washed  and  made 
white  that  I  may  be  one  of  the  innumerable  company 
and  Church  of  the  First-born,  I  shall  look  through  all 
heaven's  hosts  for  the  Methodist  preachers'  wives,  and, 
with  many  I  have  known  from  the  West  and  the  North, 
and  some  from  the  East  and  the  South,  I  hope  to  sit 
under  the  twelve-fruited  tree  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
that  flows  through  the  "sweet  fields  beyond  the  swell- 
ing flood."  The  rest  will  be  very  sweet  to  many,  to 
all  of  them,  and  yet  I  think  none  of  them  would  have 
chosen  a  different  or  easier  life  as  they  view  it  com- 
plete. 

"A  man's  life,"  and  a  woman's  also,  "  consisteth 
not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he  poscesseth," 
but  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he  has  done. 
Measured  thus,  your  seventy  years  outrun  some  cen- 
turies of  selfish,  easy,  drifting  life.  Think  of  the  ser- 
mons preached,  prayers  offered,  the  white-robed  chil- 
dren, some  of  them  now  gray-haired  men  and  women, 
whom  you  have  held  with  such  always  evident  fatherly 


460  Granville  Moody. 

tenderness  in  your  arms,  while  "water  sealed  the  cov- 
enant" of  baptism  ;  the  thousands  whose  married  life 
began  under  your  benediction  ;  the  tens  of  thousands 
to  whom  your  hands  have  ministered  Christ's  "  broken 
body  and  shed  blood;"  the  sick  visited  and  comforted; 
the  dying  to  whom  you  bore  "  His  rod  and  his  staff;" 
the  many  graves  over  which  you  have  read  the  pre- 
cious words  which  rob  them  of  their  victory :  "  I  am 
the  resurrection  and  the  life."  Add  to  this  the  calls 
for  comfort  in  sorrow  and  trouble,  and  perplexities  of 
all  sorts,  and,  besides,  work  in  all  departments  of 
human  interests,  charity,  philanthropy,  temperance, 
social  life. 

Devoted  to  God  and  humanity,  where  was  the 
time  for  self?  Not  even  time  when  Willie  died  to  go 
for  one  day  into  the  "  chamber  over  the  gate,"  to 
weep  and  say,  "  Would  God  I  had  died  for  thee, 
my  son,  O  my  son  !"  And  in  the  outset,  when  the 
first  frail  baby-blossom  faded,  the  news  brought  many 
miles  by  a  friendly  rider,  found  you  persuading  men 
to  be  reconciled  to  their  Father.  And  yet  how  truly 
the  life  lost  for  Christ's  sake  and  the  gospel's,  has 
been  found  in  high  effort,  noble  aims,  and  glorious  re- 
wards !  There  crowd  for  utterance  many  thoughts  of 
that  part  of  your  life  that  lies  within  my  recollection — 
changes  like  those  of  a  kaleidoscope.  Over  some  years 
hung  the  dim  cloud  of  war,  into  which,  impelled  by 
as  strong  a  "  call "  as  determined  you  to  preach,  you 
went  with  the  Bible  in  the  hand  which  the  sword  had 
left  free.  Then  the  breaking  of  the  family  circle  by 
death,  the  gradual  dropping  away  into  homes  of  their 
own  of  the  rest  of  the  children,  the  coming  up  of  a 
little  cluster  of  grandchildren,  to  whom  you  are  patri- 
arch as  well  as  priest  and  prophet,  and  yet  so  humanly 
near  that  perfect  love  casts  out  fear. 


Superannuation.  461 

You  and  mother  stand,  now,  as  alone  in  your 
home  as  when  it  was  first  instituted ;  but  that  was  the 
cheerful  and  welcome  isolation  of  youth  and  hope ; 
this  is  the  pathetic  loneliness  of  age  and  memory. 
Even  your  children  are  growing  gray,  and  see  that  the 
future  is  not  for  them  as  much  as  for  the  next  gen- 
eration. 

Life  has  unrolled  itself  to  you,  and  there  is  little 
new  experience  for  you  to  pass  through.  Much  of 
usefulness  I  pray  there  be  yet  in  store  for  you, 
and  comfort  in  the  love  and  society  of  children  and 
friends.  The  aftermath  of  a  fertile  field  is  not  a  small 
thing,  and  the  closing  years  of  life  are  its  ornament 
and  crown.  If  by  reason  of  strength  your  years  are 
fourscore,  they  will  still  belong  to  God  and  humanity, 
as  all  this  half-century  has  done ;  and  by  whatever  steps, 
gradual  by  nature's  decline,  or  by  the  swift,  sudden 
descent  of  disease,  you  come  to  life's  close,  those  steps 
will  have  been  ordered  by  the  Lord,  whose  y ou  are 
and  whom  you  serve.  And  when  soon  or  late,  we, 
whom  you  reared  and  fitted  for  life,  follow  that  inevi- 
table path,  in  the  words  you  have  so  often  said  and 
sung: 

"  O  may  we  meet,  no  wanderer  lost, 
A  family  in  heaven !" 

At  the  close  of  this  year  the  author  felt  that 
declining  strength  demanded  his  retirement  from 
the  active  service  of  the  ministry.  Accordingly, 
at  the  session  of  the  Cincinnati  Conference,  which 
met  in  Dayton,  September  6th,  he  asked  for  and 
obtained  the  relation  of  superannuate.  With  re- 
gard to  his  superannuation  the  following  extract 
is   made    from  the  Cincinnati    Commercial.     It  is 


462  Granville  Moody. 

in   the   report  of   the   conference    doings,  and   is 
dated  September  11,  1882: 

Rev.  Granville  Moody  this  morning,  through  his 
presiding  elder,  Rev.  S.  A.  Brewster,  requested  to  be 
removed  from  an  effective  to  a  superannuated  rela- 
tion, and  proposes  to  change  his  residence  to  the  State 
of  Iowa.  The  request  coming  from  one  so  promi- 
nent, who  had  so  long  served  the  interests  of  religion 
and  Methodism,  produced  a  decided  sensation  among 
the  conference  ranks  and  with  outside  circles.  Before 
the  request  was  acted  upon,  Dr.  Moody  enlisted  the 
absorbed  attention  of  every  one  in  the  church  in  the 
following  address : 

"Dear  Bishop  and  Brethren, — In  consequence  of 
failing  health  and  diminished  strength  during  the  last 
three  years,  caused  by  the  recurrence  of  the  disease 
contracted  in  the  army,  from  which  I  have  never  fully 
recovered,  I  deem  it  proper  to  ask  to  be  relieved  by  you 
from  the  duties  of  an  effective  itinerant  Methodist  min- 
ister, and  to  be  placed  on  the  list  of  superannuated 
preachers  of  the  Cincinnati  Conference.  On  the  first 
Saturday  of  last  March  my  friends  celebrated  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  my  entrance  upon  the  active 
duties  of  the  ministry ;  and  having  served  my  own 
generation,  and  two  successive  generations  as  well, 
according  to  the  will  of  God  and  the  will  of  the 
Church,  I  deem  it  best  to  lay  off  the  harness  of  an 
active  and  efficient  ministerial  life. 

"I  feel  truly  thankful  to  our  bishops  for  the  impor- 
tant trusts  committed  to  my  care  in  the  succession  of 
appointments,  which  I  review  with  gratitude.  My 
record  is  built  into  the  history  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  Ohio,  both  in  the  old  Ohio  Confer- 
ence   and    since   the    organization   of  the   Cincinnati 


Superannuation.  463 

Conference  in  1852 ;  and  what  is  better,  my  witness  is 
in  heaven,  and  my  record  is  on  high.  Their  better 
part  was  that  which  sprang  from  a  loving  heart.  I 
deem  it  my  duty  to  say  that,  after  fifty-one  years  of 
careful  and  critical  study  of  the  Bible,  I  consider  its 
internal,  external,  and  correlative  evidences  perfectly 
conclusive ;  and  I  rejoice  that  I  have  not  spent  my 
prolonged  life  in  inculcating  a  system  of  religion  of 
doubtful  or  even  questionable  veracity,  but  one  that 
is  demonstrated  by  prophecies  fulfilled  and  miracles 
performed,  and  is  attested  by  personal  experience; 
so  that, 

'  Tossed  on  a  sea  of  doubt, 
Here  is  firm  footing,  here  is  solid  rock; 
This  can  sustain  us;  all  is  sea  beside.' 

"I  desire  to  add  that  in  Methodism  I  have  found 
Christianity  full-orbed,  in  its  own  glorious  round  of  rays 
complete,  and  I  retire  to  veteran  ranks  with  profound 
sympathy  and  confidence  in  Methodism  as  a  revival 
of  pure  and  primitive  Christianity ;  and  had  I  another 
half-hundred  years  to  live  and  love  and  labor,  I  would 
gladly  give  them  all  to  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus 
Christ,  and  rejoice  in  such  an  economy  as  Methodism 
affords  for  the  utilization  of  means  to  its  great  end 
of  spreading  Christianity  over  these  United  States 
and  all  other  lands,  till  our  race  should  hear  and  heed 
the  gospel's  gladdening  sound. 

"I  have  preached  Christian  doctrine  practically, 
and  Christian  practice  I  have  preached  doctrinally, 
and  am  receiving  'the  end  of  my  faith,  even  the  sal- 
vation of  my  soul.'  I  now  propose  to  emigrate  into 
the  State  of  Iowa,  which,  within  a  few  weeks,  carried 
the  Prohibition  platform  by  a  majority  of  more  than 
twenty  thousand  votes — the  Massachusetts  of  the 
West,  with  occidental  improvements.     I  am  going  to 


464  Granville  Moody. 

grow  up  with  that  great  State,  and  find  there  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  discovered  path  to  the  true  Iowa  of 
heaven,  as  the  Indian  word  Iowa  means  'a  home 
for  evermore.' 

"Farewell,  my  beloved  and  honored  brethren  in  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation.  L,et  me  assure  you  of  my 
high  appreciation  of  your  general  worth,  and  believe 
me,  that 

'If  ever  fondest  prayer 

For  others'  weal  availed  on  high, 
Mine  will  not  all  be  lost  in  air, 

But  waft  your  names  beyond  the  sky.' 

"Farewell,  farewell — adieu!  Be  with  and  for 
God,  and  be  assured  that  God  will  be  with  and  for 
you.  In  the  lovely  State  of  Iowa  think  of  me,  and 
ever  believe  that  I  shall  endeavor  there  to  represent 
Ohio  Methodism,  which  is  fast  coming  into  line  with  a 
prohibition  huzza,  and  coming  to  stay." 

On  the  conclusion  of  the  author's  remarks  be- 
fore the  conference,  a  number  of  appreciative  re- 
sponses were  made,  and  a  special  committee, 
consisting  of  John  F.  Marlay,  William  L.  Hypes, 
John  M.  Walden,  Richard  S.  Rust,  David  J.  Starr, 
and  William  Herr,  was  appointed  to  prepare  a 
suitable  minute  for  the  conference  record.  The 
committee  presented  the  following  report,  which 
was  adopted  by  a  rising  vote : 

Rev.  Granville  Moody,  D.  D.,  having,  on  account 
of  failing  health,  taken  a  superannuated  relation  at 
the  close  of  fifty  years  in  the  active  ministry,  we,  his 
associates,  enter  this  minute  upon  the  records  of  our 
conference : 

1.  Through  all  these  years  Brother  Moody  has 
been  a  faithful  Methodist  itinerant  preacher,  loyal  to 


Superannuation.  465 

our  beloved  Church,  earnestly  promulgating  her  doc- 
trines and  maintaining  her  usages  ;  and,  when  required 
by  circumstances,  defending  her  doctrines  and  polity 
with  all  the  force  of  an  intellect  remarkable  both  for 
natural  and  acquired  powers. 

2.  His  ministry  has  covered  a  most  eventful  period 
in  the  history  of  our  Church  and  our  country.  He 
has  actively  participated  in  the  movements  which  have 
resulted  in  the  development  of  the  connectional  en- 
terprises and  educational  institutions  of  our  Church. 

3.  He  bore  a  distinguished  part  in  the  great  strug- 
gle for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union,  combining  in 
himself  the  character  of  a  devoted  Christian  and 
brave  soldier,  both  in  the  camp  and  on  the  battle- 
field. 

4.  We  rejoice  that  through  his  long  career,  with  a 
positive  character,  a  burning  zeal  for  the  right,  and  an 
earnest  spirit  ever  placing  him  in  antagonism  to  evil, 
he  has  maintained  an  unblemished  Christian  character. 

5.  We  earnestly  pray  that,  in  his  retirement  from 
the  active  ministry,  he  may  be  comforted  by  the  gospel 
he  has  so  efficiently  preached,  and  be  sustained  by  the 
grace  of  God. 

6.  We  trust  that  his  valuable  life  will  be  spared, 
and  that,  in  the  good  providence  of  God,  he  may  be 
able  to  return  to  our  next  annual  session  and  deliver 
his  Semi-centennial  Sermon,  which  we  hereby  request 
him  to  preach  at  that  time. 

In  view  of  the  author's  long  connection  with 
the  work  of  the  ministry  in  Ohio,  and  his  identi- 
fication with  the  history  of  Methodism  during  all 
these  years,  John  M.  Walden  moved  that  he  be 
requested  to  prepare  his  autobiography  for  publi- 
cation.    The  motion  was  adopted,  and  the  reader 


466  Granville  Moody. 

has  the  answer  to  this  request  in  the  present  vol- 
ume. "If  I  have  done  well,  and  as  is  fitting  the 
story,  it  is  that  which  I  desired ;  but  if  slen- 
derly and  meanly,  it  is  that  which  I  could  attain 
unto."     So 

"What is  writ,  is  writ; 
Would  it  were  worthier  !" 

The  foregoing  action  of  the  Cincinnati  Annual 
Conference  marks  the  closing  hours  of  my  active 
itinerant  life,  after  fifty  years  of  incessant  services 
in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  according  to  the  will  of  God.  That  won- 
derful hour  seemed  a  crisal  one  to  me.  It  was 
the  epoch  of  my  eventful  life.  It  seemed  like  a 
solemn  pause  in  time,  and  I  know  of  no  hour 
which  has  so  impressed  me.  I  was  laying  off  the 
harness,  and  yet  I  could  not  boast  myself  then,  as 
I  did  not  when  I  put  the  harness  on  at  the  age 
of  nineteen  years.  Yet  with  tender  tearfulness  I 
was  grateful  to  God  for  the  opportunities  he  had 
afforded  me  to  "hold  forth  the  word  of  life,"  and 
that  "I  had  not  run  in  vain,  nor  spent  my  strength 
for  naught."  To  God  be  all  the  glory  ;  mine  the 
endless  bliss ! 

And  now,  pleasantly  situated  with  my  beloved 
daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  Moody  Boyd,  wife  of  Rev. 
Hugh  Boyd,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Ancient  Lan- 
guages in  Cornell  College,  Mount  Vernon,  Linn 
County,  Iowa,  in  a  pleasant  apartment  for  myself 
and  my  precious  wife,  Lucretia  Elizabeth  Harris 
Moody,  with   ample  provision  for  the  rest  of  my 


Superannuation.  467 

life   by  the  good   providence  of  the  Lord,  who  is 
my  shepherd,  I  can  say : 

"  O  sacred  solitude,  divine  retreat, 
Choice  of  the  prudent,  envy  of  the  great ! 
Here,  from  the  ways  of  men,  laid  safe  ashore, 
We  smile  to  hear  the  distant  tempest  roar. 
Here,  blessed  with  ease,  with  business  unperplexed, 
This  life  we  cherish,  and  insure  the  next." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  conference  requested 
the  author  to  preach  a  Semi-centennial  Sermon  at 
the  ensuing  session,  which  was  held  in  Hamilton. 
Concerning  this  sermon,  the  following  extract  is 
made  from  the  correspondence  of  the  Cincinnati 
Daily  Gazette.     It  is  dated  September  4,  1883  : 

This  afternoon  Rev.  Granville  Moody  preached  his 
Semi-centennial  Sermon.  He  is  probably  better  known 
in  Ohio  than  any  other  minister.  His  health  is  fail- 
ing, and  he  will  retire  from  the  active  service  of  the 
ministry.  The  announcement  that  he  would  preach 
his  Semi-centennial  or  Memorial  Sermon  to-day  drew 
together  an  immense  crowd.  The  house  was  packed. 
The  preacher,  it  was  supposed,  would  give  a  personal 
sketch,  and  relate  something  of  the  history  of  his  life, 
so  well  known,  and  yet  so  new  at  each  rehearsal.  But 
in  this  they  were  disappointed.  It  was  a  grand  ser- 
mon, reviewing  the  life  of  Christ,  his  miracles,  and  the 
story  of  his  love  for  fallen  man.  It  was  not  Moody, 
but  Jesus  Christ.  The  venerable  preacher  never  spoke 
more  loving  words  of  eloquence,  or  brought  tears  to 
the  eye  oftener  than  to-day.  He  was  frequently  inter- 
rupted by  his  associates  in  the  ministry  by  cheering 
words  and  thanks  to  God.  Said  one  gentleman,  and 
he   tells  the  whole  story:  "It  was  a   grand  sermon. 


468  Granville  Moody. 

People  came  expecting  to  hear  something  of  Moody ; 
but  as  he  began  fifty  years  ago  so  he  ends  to-day,  al- 
ways keeping  Jesus  Christ  to  the  front." 

At  the  next  conference  (1884)  the  author  was 
unable  to  be  present.  But  his  brethren  there 
kindly  remembered  him,  and  sent  him  the  following 
token  of  their  regard : 

SpringfieIvD,  Ohio,  September  11,  1884. 
Rev.  GranviIvI^e  Moody,  D.  D. : 

Dear  Brother,— The  Cincinnati  Conference,  at 
its  last  session,  appointed  the  undersigned  a  special  com- 
mittee to  convey  their  profound  sympathy  with  you 
as  fellow-ministers,  and  as  former  fellow-workers  in  the 
Lord's  vineyard.  We  bear  a  lively  remembrance  of 
your  long  years  of  arduous  itinerant  toil  in  the  ministry 
of  the  Lord  Jesus.  We  gratefully  recall  your  burning 
zeal,  and  your  great  success  in  the  fields  you  have  occu- 
pied. We  can  never  forget  our  hallowed  and  blessed 
fellowship  of  toils  and  sacrifices  and  sufferings,  both 
in  the  conference  and  in  the  active  itinerant  service. 

As  those  of  us  who  are  advanced  in  years  recall 
all  this,  we  are  cheered  by  your  good  example  of 
labor  and  endurance  in  former  years,  and  by  your 
present  abundant  experience,  in  your  retirement  from 
the  active  work  of  the  ministry,  of  the  sustaining  and 
comforting  grace  of  Christ.  Those  who  are  but  re- 
cently entering  the  itinerancy,  and  those  who  have 
wrought  in  it  but  few  years,  are  greatly  impressed 
and  inspired  by  the  noble  record  you  have  made,  and 
by  the  glorious  eventide  you  are  enjoying. 

We  rejoice  in  your  past  achievements.  We  are 
glad  you  are  "  finishing  your  course  with  joy."  We 
all  miss  vour  familiar  face  and  voice  at  our  annual 


Superannuation.  469 

sessions.  We  pray  that  your  faith  may  not  fail ;  that 
He  "  who  has  begun  a  good  work  in  you  "  will  com- 
plete it  fully ;  and  also,  and  especially,  that  personally 
you  may  find  the  promise  fulfilled:  "At  evening  time  it 
shall  be  light." 

We  are,  dear  brother,  yours  in  the  kingdom  and 
patience  of  Jesus. 

Thomas  H.  Pearne,  ) 

William  Young,        >•  Committee. 

John  F.  Marlay,       ) 

Soon    after,  the    following    resolutions    of  the 
Ministerial   Association    of    Boone    District,    Des 
Moines  Conference,  held  in  Perry,  Iowa,  Novem- 
ber 6,  1884,  were  sent : 
To  the  Rev.  Granviij,e  Moody,  D.  D.,  Greeting : — 

The  Ministerial  Association  of  Boone  District,  Des 
Moines  Conference,  held  at  Perry,  Iowa,  November  6, 
1884,  directed  its  secretary  to  forward  to  you  the  fol- 
lowing expressions  of  regard : 

1.  Resolved,  That  we  regret  the  inability  of  our 
venerable  brother,  Rev.  Granville  Moody,  D.  D.,  to  be 
present  with  us  in  this  association. 

2.  Resolved,  That  we  are  glad  to  welcome  him  as  a 
resident  within  the  bounds  of  the  Boone  District. 

3.  We  desire  to  express  to  him  our  high  regard 
for  one  who,  for  so  long  a  period,  has  been  prominent 
and  faithful  among  the  Christian  workers  of  our  de- 
nomination in  the  West;  who,  by  his  abilities  and  de- 
votion as  a  Christian  minister  and  patriot  has  chal- 
lenged our  admiration,  and  also  stimulated  multitudes 
by  his  noble  example  and  efficient  labors;  and  we 
trust  that  he  may  long  be  spared  to  bless  us  with  his 
wise  and  pious  counsels,  and  that  his  declining  years 


470  Granville  Moody. 

may  continue  to  be  brightened  with  the  blessed  hope 
of  the  "  better  land." 

B.  F.  W.  Cozier,  Presiding  Elder. 
W.  W.  McGuire,  Secretary. 

These  two  letters  to  me  were  very  gratefully 
received.  They  showed  that  I  still  lived  in  the 
lively  recollections  of  the  members  of  the  two  con- 
ferences, and  seemed  to  be  a  prelude  to  the  Savior's 
welcome  salutation:  "Well  done,  good  and  faith- 
ful servant!  Thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few 
things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many  things. 
Enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

To  hear  one's  commendations  from  such  high 
source  is  as  cheering,  invigorating,  and  delightful 
as  walking  through  an  Oriental  spice-grove,  where 
every  prospect  pleases,  and  delicious  fragrances 
vie  with  each  other  in  exhilarating  influences. 
It  is  and  shall  be  my  daily  concern  to  "  finish  my 
course  with  joy  ;"  and  eternity  shall  then  place  its 
unfading  stamp  upon  my  name  among  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  Lamb.  Resurgam!  I  shall  rise 
again  !  Amen  !  God  grant  me  grace,  through  the 
remnant  of  my  days,  so  to  live  and  act  that  these 
welcome  utterances  may  prove  resonant  of  the 
Savior's  final  utterance  to  me — even  to  me  !  Truly 
religion  gives  part  of  its  reward  in  hand,  the  present 
comfort  of  having  done  our  duty;  and  for  the  rest, 
it  offers  us  the  best  security  that  heaven  can  give. 

"Happy  the  man,"  says  the  Western  Christian 
Advocate,  in  referring  to  the  foregoing  action  of 
the  Cincinnati  Conference  and  the  Boone  District 
Ministerial  Association,  "happy  the  man  who  thus 


Superannuation.  471 

enjoys   the   esteem   of  those  who   know  him  far 
and  near !" 

One  night,  a  few  weeks  subsequently  (De- 
cember 15,  1884),  I  had  a  dream  or  vision,  and 
an  impression  that  came  upon  my  mind  as  vividly 
as  if  it  were  a  divine  communication  or  a  revelation 
from  God.  I  was  asleep  to  all  but  divine  things. 
God  appeared  to  me,  saying  to  my  inner  spiritual 
consciousness,  as  though  it  were  a  communication 
direct  from  God :  "  Because  he  hath  set  his  love 
upon  me,  therefore  will  I  deliver  him :  I  will  set 
him  on  high,  because  he  hath  known  my  name. 
He  shall  call  upon  me,  and  I  will  answer  him : 
I  will  be  with  him  in  trouble ;  I  will  deliver  him, 
and  honor  him.  With  long  life  will  I  satisfy  him, 
and  show  him  my  salvation."  Wonderful  words 
uttered  to  me  personally,  as  I  presume,  and  mak- 
ing known  to  me  the  mind  and  will  of  God  in 
my  individual,  personal  case.  I  wondered,  loved, 
adored,  and  gloried  in  the  Lord  who  had  conde- 
scended so  low  to  me — even  to  me;  and  my  soul 
rejoiced  in  God,  my  father's  God,  my  mother's 
God,  my  own  chosen  God,  before  whom  I  have 
walked  amid  all  the  changing  scenes  of  an  event- 
ful life  since  the  evening  of  Thanksgiving-day, 
1 83 1,  till  this  fifteenth  day  of  December,  1884 — 
fifty-three  years  of  a  busy  life  spent  in  the  glad 
service  of  God  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  the 
Three  in  One,  and  One  in  Three,  who  was,  and  is, 
and  is  to  be.  Yes !  the  sacred,  undivided  Three 
has  bivouacked  about  me  in  all  my  walking 
through    this    great    wilderness,    guiding,    guard- 


472  Granville  Moody. 

ing,  warning,  directing,  cautioning,  encouraging, 
strengthening,  cheering,  and  assuring  me  amid 
multitudinous  circumstances  that  have  been  a 
kaleidoscope  of  wondrous  scenes  in  harmonious 
aspects,  retrospects,  and  prospects,  and  then  on  this 
momentous  month,  appearing  in  such  an  aspect  of 
tender  love,  addressing  me  as  erst  he  addressed 
David:  " Because  he  hath  set  his  love  upon  me!" 

And  now  I  do  declare  and  subscribe  to  this 
wondrous  communication  from  God  to  me,  and  I 
do  hereby  select  those  animated  words  of  Holy 
Scripture,  found  in  Psalms  xci,  14-16,  inclusive,  as 
my  funeral  text,  by  whomsoever  the  sermon  may 
be  preached,  as  declaring  my  privileges,  pros- 
pects, and  portion  thus  singularly  revealed  to  my 
mind,  and  specially  pointed  out  to  my  perception 
by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  my  comfort  and  con- 
fidence and  full  assurance  of  faith  unto  the  end. 
My  prophet,  priest,  and  king;  my  shepherd,  friend, 
and  guide ! — Jesus,  and  all  in  him,  is  mine. 

For  several  weeks  during  the  winter  of  1885-86, 
my  wife  was  in  failing  health,  and  steadily  de- 
clined. The  following  letter  describes  her  condi- 
tion at  the  date  of  its  writing : 

Mount  Vernon,  Linn  County,  Iowa,  \ 
January  17,  1886.  J 

My  Dear  Daughter  Elizabeth, — Your  precious 
mother,  Lucretia  Elizabeth  Moody,  for  whom  you 
were  named,  still  lives.  She  is  reduced  to  a  mere 
skeleton.  Her  physician,  Dr.  Carson,  has  just  left  the 
house  (eight  o'clock  this  morning).  He  hardly  knows 
in  what  befitting  terms  to  express  his  mind  with 
regard  to  your  mother's  case,  but  thinks  and  hopes 


Superannuation.  473 

that  her  condition  is  more  hopeful.  He  is,  however, 
quite  reticent  and  guarded  in  venturing  his  opinion. 
He  has  been  thus  reticent  for  five  weeks,  last  past.  He 
is  not  sanguine  of  success  in  this  case,  nor  has  he  been 
so  from  the  incipiency  of  the  disease.  He  is  a  faithful 
and  competent  and  experienced  and  tender  physician ; 
yet  he  says:  "Your  wife  has  a  vast  power  of  endur- 
ance and  vitality."  What  the  vis  medicatrix  natures \ 
or  healing  power  of  nature,  may  accomplish  is  un- 
known, but  her  power  of  endurance  has  been  severely 
tested,  developing  great  vitality  and  hold  on  life.  It 
depends  entirely  upon  the  aid  which  God  may  send 
from  on  high  if  she  weathers  this  continuous  storm. 

God's  wisdom  regulates  the  bestowment  of  power, 
and  if  he  sees  best  he  will  say  of  her  suffering :  "Thus 
far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  farther,  and  here  shall  thy  proud 
waves  be  stayed ;"  or,  "  It  is  enough,  come  up  higher ; 
enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."  It  will  all  be 
in  mercy  and  grace  to  her,  however  bereaving  and 
sacrificing  and  irreparable  the  loss  may  prove  to  us. 

Precious  saint  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  thy  pres- 
ence was  our  heaven  upon  earth,  for  the  Lord  was 
with  thee'  continually.  Thy  absence  will  darken  earth, 
thy  presence  will  brighten  heaven.  On  thy  departure 
we  shall  be  warranted  in  saying : 

"  Forever  with  the  Lord ! 
Amen  :  so  let  it  be  ; 
Life  from  the  dead  is  in  that  word, 
'T  is  immortality." 

She  was  converted  at  a  Methodist  altar,  Saturday 
evening,  at  Milburn's  Chapel,  Frederick  County,  Vir- 
ginia, and  joined  the  Methodist  Church  under  the 
labors  of  the  eminent  Abolitionist,  Rev.  Edward  Smith, 
in  1827,  when  she  was  ten  years  of  age.    She  says  she 

never  had  any  trouble  after  that,  but  just  went  along 

40 


474  Granville  Moody. 

and  served  God  from  love.  Two  weeks  after  her 
marriage  she  sought  at  God's  altar  in  the  Methodist 
Church,  in  Fulton,  Ohio,  the  sanctification  of  her  soul, 
and  received  that  gift  of  grace  in  all  its  power  and 
plenitude,  exclaiming  in  rapturous  joy,  "I  am  so 
happy,  so  happy !"  She  has  modestly  but  firmly 
confessed  her  complete  salvation  ever  since,  bearing 
a  clear  testimony  to  this  salvation  to  the  uttermost. 
Her  experience  has  been  continuous  and  abiding,  and 
occasionally  she  has  testified  to  this  exalting  and  ex- 
alted state  of  grace  spoken  of  by  St.  Paul,  i  Thes- 
salonians  v,  23-4. 

We  were  married  at  her  father's  house  (William 
Hickman  Harris)  on  Buck  Creek,  four  miles  north- 
west of  Springfield,  Clarke  County,  Ohio,  on  Tues- 
day, January  19,  1836,  by  Joshua  Boucher.  We  have 
celebrated  our  happy  marriage  days  for  the  last  forty- 
nine  years ;  and  if  she  survives  two  more  days,  we  will 
celebrate  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  ever  memor- 
able era  of  our  early  marriage.  She  has  been  better 
than  I  took  her  for,  and  the  worst  calamity  to  me  will 
be  her  removal  by  death.  But  our  loss  and  my  loss 
will  prove  her  immediate,  indescribable,  and  ever- 
lasting gain — an  exceeding  great  reward  ! 

We  celebrated  our  happy  marriage  for  fifty 
years,  completed  the  19th  of  January,  1886 ;  and 
seventeen  days  afterward  my  wife  was  not,  for  God 
took  her.  She  died  at  the  residence  of  our  son- 
in-law,  Professor  Hugh  Boyd,  D.  D.,  of  Cornell 
College,  Mount  Vernon,  Iowa.  Having  shared 
the  vicissitudes  and  beatitudes  of  fifty  years  of 
itinerant  toil  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  Ohio,  she  accompanied  me  into  this  western 
region,  and  has    outstripped   me   in   her  militant 


Superannuation.  475 

career,  met   the  king   of  terrors,  and   gained  her 
long-sought  home,  where  the  weary  are  at  rest. 

The  following  notice  of  her  death  is  clipped 
from  a  Mt.  Vernon  paper: 

At  eight  o'clock,  Friday  morning,  February  5,  1886, 
Mrs.  Iyucretia  Elizabeth  Moody,  wife  of  General  Gran- 
ville Moody,  died  in  this  city,  at  the  residence  of  her 
son-in-law,  Professor  Hugh  Boyd,  of  Cornell  College. 
Mrs.  Moody  was  in  her  sixty-eighth  year,  and  she  and 
her  illustrious  husband  had  just  celebrated  their 
golden  wedding,  they  having  been  married  on  the 
19th  of  January,  1836. 

Her  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  Methodist 
Church,  of  which  her  husband  was  an  eminent  min- 
ister of  fifty-four  years'  standing,  on  Sunday  after- 
noon, a  large  congregation  being  present,  and  also 
attending  the  funeral  cortege  to  the  cemetery.  The 
pastor,  Rev.  F.  B.  Cherrington,  impressively  read  the 
ritual  as  the  casket  was  borne  down  the  aisle  to  the 
altar,  which  was  profusely  arrayed  in  flowers  and  ap- 
propriate tokens  of  affection  and  of  Christian  faith. 
Rev.  George  Bancroft,  of  the  Troy  Conference,  an  ex- 
army  chaplain,  read  the  Scripture  lessons,  following 
with  a  most  impressive  and  appropriate  prayer. 

The  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  John 
Hogarth  Lozier,  of  this  city,  who  was  an  acquaintance 
of  fully  a  quarter  of  a  century's  standing,  and  was 
General  Moody's  comrade  and  intimate  associate  dur- 
ing the  war,  having  been  by  his  side  in  battle,  and 
having  been  the  only  chaplain  in  their  brigade  during 
part  of  that  time,  and  being  often  assisted  in  preach- 
ing by  Colonel  (now  General)  Moody. 

His  text  was  John  xiv,  4  :  "Whither  I  go,  ye  know." 
The  chaplain  graphically  referred  to  Mrs.  Moody's  hast- 


476  Granville  Moody. 

ening  from  her  Ohio  home  to  the  side  of  her  hus- 
band, who  had  been  four  times  struck  with  rebel  balls 
in  the  battle  of  Stone  River.  He  spoke  of  her  work 
for  the  soldiers  who  survived  that  battle,  mending 
both  their  bullet-torn  garments  and  bodies  as  best  she 
could.  She  was  not  the  "good  Samaritan"  without 
the  oil  and  the  two-pence.  He  assured  the  large 
assembly  of  saddened  hearts  present  that  their  num- 
bers would  be  multiplied  by  tens  of  thousands  as  the 
tidings  of  this  death  should  spread  eastward  among 
the  hearts  and  homes  that  had  enjoyed  the  benisons 
of  her  earlier  life  and  labors.  Such  lives  become  so 
embalmed  in  the  hearts  they  have  blessed  that  their 
memory  is  forever  superior  to  decay  ;  while  such  devo- 
tion to  God,  humanity,  and  country  so  assimilates  the 
soul  to  Christ  as  to  render  it  quite  at  home  with  him. 
When  such  souls  are  parted  from  us,  our  spiritual 
vision  traces  upon  the  luminous  pathway  of  their 
ascent  the  words  of  the  text,  "Whither  I  go,  ye 
know." 

General  Moody,  whose  snow-white  head  has  never 
bowed,  save  in  courtesy,  to  any  but  his  God,  was  bowed 
down  with  this  grief  in  a  manner  that  touched  all 
hearts ;  yet  he  fervently  thanked  his  Maker  for  so 
blessed  a  companionship  for  so  many  years. 

The  four  great  epochs  of  my  wife's  earthly 
existence  are  briefly  these :  Born  February  26, 
1 818  ;  converted  to  Christ  November,  1827  ;  mar~ 
ried  January  19,  1836;  died  February  5,  1886. 
To  such  as  she  the  words  of  Longfellow  are  most 
applicable : 

"  There  is  no  death.     What  seems  so  is  transition  ; 
This  life  of  mortal  breath 
Is  but  the  suburb  of  the  life  elysiau, 
Whose  portal  we  call  death." 


Superannuation.  477 

When  the  Cincinnati  Conference  met  the  fol- 
lowing fall,  in  Piqua,  at  the  memorial  service  held 
in  honor  of  those  who  had  died  during  the  year, 
William  Herr  read  the  following  memoir  of  Mrs. 
Moody.  It  was  prepared  by  Mrs.  S.  J.  M.  Con- 
well,  who  was  a  long  time  a  faithful  and  intimate 
friend  of  the  family  : 

Lucretia  Elizabeth  Harris  Moody,  beloved  wife  of 
Rev.  Granville  Moody,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  Virginia, 
on  the  present  site  of  Jordan,  White  Sulphur  Springs, 
February  26,  1818.  Her  ancestral  lineage,  on  both 
sides,  was  of  the  highest  type,  not  only  in  social  and 
civil  relationships,  but  better  far,  in  relation  to  Chris- 
tianity and  the  Church  of  that  early  day.  Mrs. 
Moody  was  born  to  a  heritage  in  the  Lord's  house. 
Her  sturdy  father,  William  Hickman  Harris,  secured 
his  noble  wife  by  pledging  the  godly  mother  that  he 
would  "not  hinder,  but  help  Elizabeth  to  live  a  Chris- 
tian life."  This  same  maternal  grandmother  declared, 
in  a  love-feast,  that  she  had  been  divinely  assured 
that  her  children's  children,  to  the  latest  generation, 
would  honor  God  and  love  the  Savior.  Her  faith, 
thus  far,  has  been  happily  and  wonderfully  verified. 
Her  name  was  Elizabeth  Kurtz.  She  came  from 
Germany  when  ten  years  old. 

In  1 83 1  Mrs.  Moody  was  withdrawn  from  a  ladies' 
seminary,  in  Winchester,  Va.,  where  she  had  been  a 
pupil  for  two  or  three  years,  to  be  brought,  as  the 
teachers  said  protestingly,  "to  the  wilderness  of  the 
West."  But  in  this  "wilderness,"  near  Springfield, 
O.,  Mrs.  Moody  found  her  life's  work — the  labors  and 
duties  of  which  she  cheerfully  assumed,  and  per- 
formed, without  swerving  and  without  regretting,  to 
the   end  of  her  earthly  pilgrimage.     She  was  keenly 


478  Granville  Moody. 

sensitive  to  the  beauties  of  nature,  and  frequently 
spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the  delights  of  that  west- 
ward journey,  performed  in  a  gig,  accompanied  by  her 
oldest  brother,  while  the  parents  and  younger  chil- 
dren followed  in  the  family  carriage  and  a  six-horse 
wagon. 

In  January,  1836,  Mrs.  Moody  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Rev.  Granville  Moody,  her  sorrowing  sur- 
vivor, and  for  half  a  century  Brother  and  Sister 
Moody  were  earnest  and  pre-eminently  successful  co- 
workers in  the  itinerant  ministry.  Mrs.  Moody  was 
well  fitted  for  her  high  calling.  In  a  very  peculiar 
sense  was  she  a  helpmeet  to  her  companion,  and  an 
"  ornament  in  the  courts  of  the  Lord's  house."  Her 
character,  which  was  unique,  impressed  itself  upon  all 
who  came  within  her  influence.  She  had  made  ex- 
cellent use  of  her  early  privileges  of  education ;  she 
was  progressive,  and  always  a  close  and  correct 
observer.  From  an  early  age  she  was  also  endowed 
with  a  fine,  discriminating  sense,  and  a  high  quality  of 
courage,  which  together,  kept  her  invariably  calm  and 
self-poised.  She  possessed,  also,  a  graceful  and  com- 
manding presence,  an  intelligent  perception  of  pro* 
priety,  and  a  ready  power  of  adaptation  to  surroundings 
and  to  the  necessities  of  practical  life.  The  following 
beautiful  tribute  is  from  the  heart  and  pen  of  her 
eldest  daughter: 

"  I  need  not  tell  you,  my  mother's  friend,  how 
perennial  was  the  spring  of  her  nature,  how  alive  was 
every  fiber,  how  acute  each  pleasure,  how  natural 
every  emotion,  and  how  unaffected  its  expression. 
She  was  full  of  all  goodly  conditions,  and  of  infinite 
variety.  Her  tact  was  perfect,  and  never  at  the  ex- 
pense of  entire  truthfulness,  which  she  gained  in  part 
by  a  wise  reticence,  both  of  word  and  act.     She  knew 


Superannuation. 


479 


to  speak,  and,  far  greater  knowledge,  to  keep  silence. 
She  knew  '  how  to  be  abased  and  how  to  abound,' 
and  there  was  that  in  her  nature  that  built  a  home 
round  her,  invisibly,  intangibly,  spiritually,  even  as  she 
walked  in  strange  places." 

Mrs.  Moody's  Christian  character  was  a  rare  union 
of  duties  and  graces.  Converted  at  a  camp-meeting  in 
Virginia  at  the  early  age  of  eight  years,  she  was 
frequently  known  to  say  that  "never  for  a  moment 
since  that  hour  had  she  doubted  her  justified  relation 
before  God  and  the  power  of  divine  grace  to  keep  her 
faithful  to  the  end."  Piety  seemed  inwrought  into 
the  entire  web  of  her  life,  and,  suffusing  itself  over 
her  whole  being,  was  manifest  in  the  smallest  as 
well  as  in  the  great  details  of  faith  and  duty. 

In  each  of  her  husband's  numerous  appointments 
Mrs.  Moody  was  heartily  welcomed  as  the  pastor's 
wife,  and  immediately  entered,  actively  and  zealously, 
into  every  movement  to  promote  the  interests  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom.  Especially  was  she  interested 
in,  and  a  happy  co-worker  with  the  young,  in  all  their 
social  Church  organizations ;  and  in  the  Sabbath- 
school,  which  seldom  missed  her  presence,  she  was  a 
power,  felt  and  acknowleged  by  all.  It  was  here  that 
her  versatility  was  most  beautifully  exemplified,  and 
whether  the  exercises  were  of  a  social,  devotional,  or 
literary  character,  Mrs.  Moody  was  equally  at  home  on 
the  occasion.  There  was  that  in  her  own  freshness  and 
sunniness  of  nature  that  allied  her  instinctively  to 
youth,  and  this  amiable  disposition,  going  with  her 
through  life,  kept  her  heart  still  young,  as  years  made 
their  passage  over  her  head.  The  youngest  daughter 
writes  thus : 

"Mother  never  seemed  to  be  more  vigorous  and 
enterprising  than  in  the  last  few  years  of  her  life,  on 


480  Granville  Moody. 

till  last  March,  when  I  began  to  see  that  she  was  fail- 
ing. She  enjoyed  life,  too,  as  well  as  ever,  and  made 
it  such  a  bright  and  pleasant  thing  for  all  around  her, 
it  was  impossible  to  conceive  that  she  should  ever 
grow  old." 

In  her  earthly,  as  well  as  in  her  divine  loves,  Mrs. 
Moody  was  eminently  practical.  Joining  industry  to 
devotion,  it  was  her  great  aim  to  be  useful,  and  to  con- 
duce daily  to  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  all  around 
her.  She  used  to  say,  pleasantly,  "I  have  no  time  for 
sentimentalities,  you  see ;  I  love  my  dear  ones  with 
my  hands  and  feet." 

In  the  memorable  year  of  1862,  Mrs.  Moody's 
Christian  heroism  was  subjected  to  the  severest  test ; 
but  faith  and  patriotism  rose  to  the  occasion,  and 
nerved  her  for  the  sacrifice.  Cheerfully,  and  with 
brave  heart,  she  gave  up  both  husband  and  son  to 
their  country's  call,  in  defense  of  liberty  and  right- 
eousness, and  not  even  when  the  hazards  and  grim 
possibilities  of  war  rose  before  her  as  a  black  wall  did 
she  waver  or  weep.  During  their  absence  from 
home,  Mrs.  Moody  disbanded  her  household  in  the 
parsonage  of  Morris  Chapel,  Cincinnati,  now  "St. 
Paul,"  and  went  to  take  care  of  her  aged  and  feeble 
mother,  who  was  at  this  time  living  in  the  loneliness 
of  widowhood,  in  the  homestead  at  Springfield.  Im- 
mediately after  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  learning 
from  vague  and  uncertain  sources  that  her  husband 
was  among  the  wounded,  and  herself  apprehending 
the  worst,  she  braved  all  discomforts  and  dangers,  and 
overcame  all  obstacles  to  reach  him,  which  she  suc- 
cessfully accomplished,  traveling,  in  turn,  by  railway, 
wagon,  government  ambulance,  and  finally  on  horse- 
back, across  the  field  of  battle  to  General  Moody's 
own  head-quarters,  in  the  advance  line  of  the  battle- 


Superannuation.  481 

ground,  near  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee.  Mrs.  Moody 
remarked  that  "that  last  stage  of  the  journey,  two 
miles,  might  have  been  performed  by  stepping 
from  one  dead  horse  to  another,  so  fierce  and  fatal 
had  been  the  six  days'  strife  of  war."  Here  Mrs. 
Moody  remained  for  a  fortnight,  faithfully  and  ten- 
derly ministering,  not  only  to  the  needs  of  her 
wounded  husband,  but  to  the  lesser  needs  of  tattered 
and  homesick  soldiers  in  his  command ;  and  many  a 
"word,  fitly  spoken"  to  them,  proved  afterwards  to  be 
as  "apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver." 

The  keenest  sorrow  of  Mrs.  Moody's  married  life 
came  to  her  in  the  death  of  her  noble  and  promising 
son,  Lieutenant  William  H.  H.  Moody,  topographical 
engineer  and  staff  officer  on  General  Negley's  staff, 
who,  having  escaped  the  deadly  weapons  of  war,  yet 
fell  a  victim  to  the  cause,  from  disease  contracted  in 
the  army.  He  died  in  the  summer  of  1864,  at  the 
family  residence  in  Piqua,  O.,  to  which  station  his 
father  had  been  appointed  by  the  conference,  after 
resigning  his  position  in  the  army,  and  while  himself 
was  on  furlough  because  of  impaired  health.  Under 
the  deep  affliction  of  her  son's  death,  Mrs.  Moody  was 
the  comfort  and  strength  of  all  the  family,  bearing 
her  own  share  of  sorrow  with  the  Roman  mother's 
fortitude  and  the  Christian  mother's  hope.  The 
sisters  have  since  said  :  "We  thought  it  impossible  that 
she  felt  our  brother's  death  as  keenly  as  we,  because 
she  so  controlled  her  anguish,  and  let  no  duty, 
however  small,  pass,  even  at  the  very  grave's  mouth. 
But  when,  later,  she  told  us  that  'for  years  it  hurt 
her  to  see  the  sun  shine,'  we  knew  better  '  the  depth 
of  her  bereavement.'  " 

This  great  sorrow,  as  was  apparent  to  all,  brought 
her   into  closer  union  with  the  spiritual  and  unseen. 

41 


482  Granville  Moody. 

Her  piety  wore  a  deeper  and  holier  tinge.  The  grace 
of  God,  which  abounded  in  her  life,  was  more  con- 
spicuous in  the  spiritual  serenity  and  cheerfulness  of 
soul  sustained  in  the  midst  of  so  sad  a  bereavement. 
Mother  and  son  are  both  sleeping  the  sleep  that  "God 
gives  to  his  beloved,"  in  graves  widely  sundered  by 
areas  of  earth ;  but  their  spirits,  doubtless,  are  sweetly 
mingling  in  the  celestial  communion. 

Another  sore  trial  of  Mrs.  Moody's  experience  pre- 
sented itself  when  her  husband's  broken  health  and 
extremely  feeble  condition  made  it  necessary  for  him 
to  ask  a  superannuated  relation  to  this  conference, 
thus  ceasing  from  the  active  work  of  the  ministry. 
But  here,  again,  her  supreme  good  sense  and  ready 
acceptance  of  exigencies,  together  with  an  unquestion- 
ing submission  to  the  divine  will,  not  only  sustained 
her  own  spirit,  but  made  her  a  strength  and  solace 
to  her  husband  in  the  sorrow  that  well-nigh  rent  his 
soul.  Lovingly  and  without  fear  she  went  forth  with 
the  grand  companion  and  co-laborer  of  her  life,  to 
new  scenes,  and  to  smaller  spheres  of  action ;  and  our 
hearts  ejaculated  blessings  on  them  as  they  went,  and 
we  knew  that  they  who  had  been  so  faithful  and  suc- 
cessful in  that  which  is  much,  would  neither  falter 
nor  fail  in  that  which  is  less.  Their  hearts  clung 
ever  "to  the  old  friends,"  and,  present  or  absent,  were 
always  loyal  to  them. 

Last  winter,  about  holiday-time,  numerous  and 
beautifully  wrought  cards  of  invitation  were  sent 
forth,  bidding  friends  from  every  home  of  the  past, 
to  their  golden  anniversary  wedding,  which  was  to  be 
celebrated  January  19th,  under  the  commodious  roof 
of  their  son-in-law,  Rev.  Professor  Hugh  Boyd, 
D.  D.,  of  Cornell  College,  Mt.  Vernon,  Iowa.  The 
kindly,  sympathetic    responses   to   those   cards,   that 


Superannuation.  483 

poured  in  upon  them  for  days,  by  every  mail,  and 
reached  our  sister  upon  her  couch  of  feebleness, 
proved  a  keen  pleasure  to  her — a  member  of  the  family 
said,  "one  of  the  rarest  delights  of  her  whole  life." 
The  single  regret  was:  "O,  if  I  might  only  see  them 
all!"  But,  alas!  "how  swift  trod  sorrow  on  the  heels 
of  joy  !"     It  proved  the  last  anniversary. 

In  the  first  stages  of  Mrs.  Moody's  decline,  there 
seemed  to  be  no  particular  disease,  rather  only  a 
gradual  and  gentle  exhaustion  of  strength.  But 
friends  were  not  deceived.  Instantly  husband  and 
children  recognized  and  reverenced  in  hex  that  majes- 
tic grace  of  departing  days  that  attends  the  going  out 
of  lofty  and  virtuous  life. 

Mrs.  Boyd  touchingly  writes:  "Mother  came  home 
to  us  last  September,  bright  and  cheerful  as  ever,  but 
very  frail.  She  continued  to  grow  weaker  every  day, 
and  by  Thanksgiving-time  was  so  feeble  that  I  did 
not  let  her  rise  until  after  taking  her  breakfast;  and 
then  one  day  she  did  not  feel  like  getting  up  at  all, 
and  that  was  the  beginning  of  the  end." 

But  days  of  intense  suffering  were  in  store  for  our 
dear  sister,  through  which  she  bore  herself  with  sweet- 
ness and  resignation ;  though  had  it  been  the 
Heavenly  Father's  will,  she  would  fain  have  lingered 
in  life  for  the  sake  of  the  loved  one,  who,  she  felt, 
still  needed  her  presence,  and,  in  his  increasing  years 
and  feebleness,  more  than  ever.  Once,  when  it 
seemed  to  anxious  watchers  that  the  death-angel  had 
indeed  come,  her  agonized  husband  said  to  her  :  "Wife, 
for  you  to  live  is  Christ,  but  to  die  would  be  your 
gain."  "Yes,"  she  replied,  "that  is  true;  but  there  is 
work  for  me  yet.  You  can  not  spare  me ;  do  not  talk 
of  my  dying."  Thus  her  thought  was  for  others  and 
not  herself,  even  when  face  to  face  with  the  supreme 


484  Granville  Moody. 

solemnity.  A  loving  watcher  by  the  sick-bed  said : 
"All  through  her  sufferings  she  was  her  unselfish  self, 
natural,  transparent,  clear  as  crystal,  genuine,  even  in 
fever  and  delirium." 

At  last  the  messenger  came  in  very  truth,  and  was 
recognized  simultaneously  by  patient  sufferer  and 
waiting  friends.  With  the  utmost  composure,  and 
with  a  loving  smile  for  all  about  her  bed,  she  brokenly 
articulated,  in  several  attempts,  "The  Lord  is  my 
shepherd !"  and  stepped  trustingly  down  into  the 
dark  valley,  through  which  all  who  go  must  journey 
alone.     The  date  of  her  death  was  February  5,  1886. 

In  connection  with  the  foregoing  memoir, 
Sylvester  Weeks  read  a  paper  setting  forth  Mrs. 
Moody's  adaptability  to  work,  in  connection  with 
the  Woman's  Temperance  Crusade  movement. 
From  that  paper  the  following  extract  will  be  in 
place  here : 

Mrs.  Moody's  adaptability  shone  out  most  conspic- 
uously in  the  "Crusade,"  which,  like  the  "Day  of 
Pentecost,"  brief  in  itself,  yet  put  in  motion  a  train 
of  influences  which  shall  move  on  till  He  shall  reign 
"whose  right  it  is."  Dealing  with  good  men  who  were 
conservative,  with  some  impulsive  men  and  women 
with  views  bordering  on  fanaticism,  and  with  wicked 
men  and  women  whose  mercenary  profits  and  sensual 
indulgences  were  interfered  with,  she,  as  the  prompt 
and  efficient  leader,  conducted  the  campaign  success- 
fully, without  alienating  a  single  friend  or  drawing 
upon  herself  the  personal  malignity  of  an  enemy  of 
the  righteous  cause.  Dr.  Moody,  presiding  elder  of 
the  district ;  Dr.  Hamilton,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  I,  were  frequently  consulted  as  to  methods, 


Superannuation.  485 

and  often,  after  laborious  ascent  as  we  reached 
the  summit  of  a  conclusion,  we  found  that  her 
womanly  intuition  had  carried  her  to  the  elevation, 
and  she  sat  serenely  waiting  with  un fatigued  energy 
to  carry  forward  the  work.  I  shall  never  forget 
one  scene  in  that  ever-memorable  movement.  I 
had  drawn,  in  colored  crayons,  a  temperance  design 
on  the  blackboard,  and  displaying  it  in  the  lecture- 
room  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Ripley,  whence  the 
ladies  started,  after  prayer  and  Christian  conference, 
to  plead  with  men  as  one  pleads  for  his  life  to 
abandon  their  death-dealing  business,  she  stood  in  her 
place  between  the  front  pew  and  the  communion  rail, 
her  queenly  form  erect,  her  left  hand  extended  toward 
the  object  lesson,  of  which  she  said,  "The  sight  of 
the  eye  affects  the  heart;"  her  right  hand,  in  entreat- 
ing gesture,  extended  toward  her  sister-workers ;  her 
head,  with  its  silvery  crown  of  giay  and  brimming 
eyes,  for  a  moment  cast  down  as  though  weighted  with 
its  load  of  intense  interest,  then  upward  toward 
heaven,  as  though  assured  of  the  triumph  of  the  right, 
received  anew  her  baptism  as  the  consecrated  leader 
of  the  advance  guard  of  the  triumphing  temperance 
and  Christian  host.  Her  power  of  adaptation  was  not 
the  cunning  of  nature  or  the  result  of  culture,  but 
the  grace  of  God  to  one  willing  and  obedient. 

[The  author  of  the  foregoing  Retrospect  did  not 
long  survive  his  wife.  He  died,  as  already  related 
in  the  Preface,  June  4,  1887.  Many  are  the  anec- 
dotes told  of  his  ministerial  and  army  life,  only  a 
few  of  which  he  himself  repeats,  and  most  of 
them  he  gives  in  the  words  of  others.  Had  the 
editor  gathered  up  and  included  the  reminiscences 
of   Dr.    Moody's    friends    and    associates    in    the 


486  Granville  Moody. 

ministry  and  laity,  this  volume  might  have  been 
extended  indefinitely. 

No  man  can  paint  a  good  portrait  of  himself, 
nor  has  the  author  done  so  here.  We  see  his 
likeness  dimly,  and  only  in  profile.  But  it  is  that 
of  a  master.  He  himself  has  departed,  but  his 
influence  remains.  Not  more  than  once  or  twice 
in  a  century  does  such  a  man  appear.  By  him 
the  Church  is  widened,  souls  are  gathered  in,  and 
humanity  is  blessed.  The  peculiarites  and  ec- 
centricities of  the  actor  are  forgotten  with  the 
generation  to  which  he  belonged.  The  labors 
which  he  performed  and  the  record  of  the  words 
which  he  spoke  belong  to  posterity.  By  these  he 
still  lives.  Only  when  the  Lord  cometh  to  make  up 
his  jewels  can  his  work  be  properly  estimated. — 
Editor.] 


the  END. 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 

This  book  is  due  on  the  date  indicated  below,  or  at  the 
expiration  of  a  definite  period  after  the  date  of  borrowing,  as 
provided  by  the  library  rules  or  by  special  arrangement  with 
the  Librarian  in  charge. 

DATE   BORROWED 

DATE   DUE 

DATE   BORROWED 

DATE   DUE 

Ca8(342)M 

JO 

COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


0035521511 


938.6 


M77£ 


BRITTLE  DO  NOT 
PHOTOCOPY 


JUN  2  5  1345 


■ 


i 


1       £      -if      ?•      V      i      ?.-      4.       -\ 

•  ■ 


.: 


■       :■ 


81     .        •  • 


'1 


*  ,  ?  ,.  > 


